Future of CDROM, DVD, etc.

[Julian Humphries]

At 10:43 AM 27-04-00 -0500, Richard Jensen wrote:
>
>> But even this is a moot point.  Do you really think Chapman and Hall (or
>> have they been bought by somebody else?) gives a tinkers dam about our
>> longterm needs?  We are living in a new economy  and *we* don't have the
>> choice whether to continue old fashion printed intellectual property.  If
>> they go, they go.
>
>And the same can't be said for companies that manufacture electronic
>media?  I seem to recall many new versions of computers and software that
>had no backward compatibility.  It's less a problem now, but when things
>are market driven, they have no guaranteed longevity or stability.
>

The difference is between the 500 million computers with CDROM drives and
the 10000 or folks with an interest in long term access to paper property.
It is simply a matter of economics.

>I'm not a luddite longing for the "good old days."  But, I am trying to be
>conservative when planning for the future.  I don't know what direction
>things will go.  I do know that I have something that has stood the test
>of time and am not willing to discard that for what might be.  Think long
>term.

But what you or I  want is close to irrelevant.  We are simply too small to
be a viable marketplace or technology force for publishers of intellectual
property.  If libraries change the way they do business due to pricing
strategies from publishers, what can we do about it?  Nada.   I certainly
don't fault your lack of faith in the market place to meet our needs.  I am
just saying the solution is not to demand or ask for a retention of old
technology, but to figure out how we can achieve our goals with new
technology.

Julian