It only took a day. About half way down the page you'll notice the following gem
Analysts have warned that the format war, which has been likened to the Betamax-VHS videotape fight in the 1980s, could cause confusion amongst consumers and impact on sales of both technologies.
Predictable isn't the word. Can't they think of a different comparison? It's like Sky versus BSB, it's like 8 Track versus Compact Cassette, it's like the Playstation against the Saturn, it's like the Mac against PCs, it's like Dyson versus Hoover. And, as I've mentioned before, the consumer doesn't seem to be confused by the myriad of competing incompatible video games systems.
Of course there is a much more direct comparison, something the analysts fail to acknowledge. DVD recorders. If their view is to be believed, the consumer can't cope with more than one video format, therefore DVD recorders which are available in any number of incompatible versions should have failed, due to public bewilderment. But it didn't happen. VHS is now all but extinct. And it's not like the public are particularly clued up about consumer electronics. It wouldn't have been the first time someone asked me for a JCB video, or claimed they had a Mississippi TV, or wanted a demo of a Dudley Didical amp, or wondered how much a George Formby Health grill cost, or had difficulty with the notion Scotch videotapes were in fact blank.
Which demonstrates one key thing. The public know what they want, analysts only think they know what the public want.
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