> I never once heard someone argue that VHS was the superior platform for tape.


>There were two formats: alpha and beta. Sony owned both. Thinking that beta would win because of better quality - it spun the alpha format off. Why did alpha win? Because the format was licensed - and in a relative short amount of time - you could get VHS players from a variety of vendors at a relatively cheap price. You could only get teh beta format from Sony (the Betamax).

You're forgetting Video 2000 from philips. Again this was a superiour format compared to VHS, but did not make it. I don't know if it was available in the US though.

>It is precisely why I always looked at amusement (extreme amusement) at those who kept preaching that VFP should win because it was "better" than VB - mostly because it was OO and had an integrated data engine.

>Those that have bothered to explore traditionally non-hi tech avenues learned a long time ago that being "better" has almost nothing to do with winning. Being good enough is all that counts.

No, having the best marketing is all that counts....

Walter,