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Betamax was technically superior to VHS, but VHS won because its cheap, permissive licencing earned it the crucial network effects that made it the default plat
by RyanMcGreal 16y ago
Betamax was technically superior to VHS, but VHS won because its cheap, permissive licencing earned it the crucial network effects that made it the default platform. (Incidentally, you could say exactly the same thing about MS-DOS.)
- philwelch 16y agoAlso, VHS traded off longer runtime against higher quality, while Betamax traded off the other way. Turns out people don't like switching cassettes in the middle of a movie.