Kodak is quitting.

[KRS]

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Dear Sri Kunjuppu Ji,

More than your English, it was my comprehension that is at fault, sir. I mis-interpreted.

My apologies.

I did not know about the demand for such family photos! Amazing!

Regards,
KRS

 

[kunjuppu]

KRS,

you are not at fault.

if you did not understand what i meant, in the same manner as what i intended, it is my fault.

i have immense respect for you sir, ie re english comprehension, and if you yourself misunderstood me, it is a good lesson for me. i should be more careful, as to how i address the public.

here is the website of my nephew's club...

Photostrophe | Making a Mark

 

[kunjuppu]

why did kodak fail?

here is an interesting view as published in the london (UK) observer

could kodak's demise have been averted

after all, in 1976 kodak commanded 90% of film sales, 85% of camera sales in the usa. kodak invented the digital camera. but did not develop the market for it.

to kodak, its own invention of the digital camera, was a disaster, as it upset its own formula for success, and kodak failed to acknowledge an upstart of its own creation, that would ultimately cause its demise.

All true, but still too smug because they fail to capture the way the world looked to the executives who ran Kodak in its film-based heyday. A good way of inoculating yourself from the wisdom of hindsight is to read Clayton Christensen's seminal book, The Innovator's Dilemma, which is the best explanation we have of why and how successful firms can be undermined by disruptive innovations – even when they appear to be doing everything right: listening to their customers, watching the marketplace, and investing in research and development.

The really sobering thought to emerge from Christensen's book is that good decisions by great managers can still lead to corporate disaster. The reason is that while big companies are often good at fostering "sustaining" innovations – ones that enhance their positions in established markets – they are generally hopeless at dealing with innovations that completely disrupt those markets.

to compare this to one rumour i have always heard for long. that in 1970s GM already had produced better battery driven cars than today, but at the insistence of the oil company, destroyed the technology and burnt the blueprints. who knows if that is true?

 

[sarang]

My german professor also told me that wankel rotary engine was killed by the auto industry because of heavy investments made in reciprocating engines by the manufacturers.


General electric, usa, had more than 90% market share in computer numerical control in the seventies and were wiped out by fanuc japan in th early eighties. Jack welch's first job was to wind up the cnc business.

There are many such stories - from the pinnacle of glory to the nadir of shrinking to nothingness.

If IBM had not flouted all its philosophy and practices, the pc revolution would not have taken place.

1. IBM designed and used its own chips and hardware; pc chips made by an outsider (intel)
2. All main frame os and software was developed internally; pc os was obtained from microsoft. Another interesting story - cpm, as an operating system was superior, but as the person who developed it was on holiday and could not be contacted (his wife refused to give contact information). bill gates managed to get the contract (despite many flaws in the os.
3. In pc nothing is from ibm; everything bought and assembled.
4. Even the team working on the pc was shifted out of main ibm building to the other side of the town.

to compare this to one rumour i have always heard for long. that in 1970s GM already had produced better battery driven cars than today, but at the insistence of the oil company, destroyed the technology and burnt the blueprints. who knows if that is true?

 

[kunjuppu]

My german professor also told me that wankel rotary engine was killed by the auto industry because of heavy investments made in reciprocating engines by the manufacturers.


General electric, usa, had more than 90% market share in computer numerical control in the seventies and were wiped out by fanuc japan in th early eighties. Jack welch's first job was to wind up the cnc business.

There are many such stories - from the pinnacle of glory to the nadir of shrinking to nothingness.

If IBM had not flouted all its philosophy and practices, the pc revolution would not have taken place.

1. IBM designed and used its own chips and hardware; pc chips made by an outsider (intel)
2. All main frame od and software was developed internally; pc os was obtained from microsoft. Another interesting story - cpm, as an operating system was superior, but as the person who developed it was on holiday and could not be contacted (his wife refused to give contact information). bill gates managed to get the contract (despite many flaws in the os.
3. In pc nothing is from ibm; everything bought and assembled.
4. Even the team working on the pc was shifted out of main ibm building to the other side of the town.

re the wankel,

here in north america, we had mazda rx3 using it. also some german cars too used i think. i thought the issue was fuel efficiency more than anything else. sometimes market too decides.

also, engine factories have come up like mushrooms these past 50 years. i liked the concept of the rotary, and had viewed in my college. was a fascinating piece, in its simplicity. it made sense too, that there is no need for power loss, in converting linear motion to rotary, which is what pistons is all about.

sometimes market forces work in a way to destroy an innovation. for example sony's beta was far ahead of its time, but VHS through skilful marketing and free sharing of technology managed to set aside sony, till sony dumped it.

i am not so sure about 'conspiracy' theories, to set aside breakthrough in technology.

there is an interesting canadian story here. canada had the benefit of attracting the prime and brilliant british aero engineering during and after 2nd world war, and built a thriving aero industry in montreal/toronto.

canada, with our federal govt subsidy, built AVRO Aero. in 1958 it was the most advanced fighter of its time, far ahead of usa or ussr. but it was killed with a viciousness, which is still never fully explained. so severe was the process, that the government ordered every live model to be hammered and broken and sent to the wreckers, so that it could never be re assembled.

even today, 54 years later, its images are as modern as any of today's fighter planes. maybe for once, conspiracy theory holds true. or was it the americans?

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

what did the then newly unemployed aero engineers do? they all went to usa, and helped usa land a man on the mooon

 

[sarang]

I used a digital camera mounted on a micro tripod (available for rs. 300 in chennai) and close up mode selected. Distance between lens and print is about 9 inches. 1 to 5 mp resolution can be used for shooting in normal ambient light (no flash). This was recommended by the photo magazines. Results are as good as the prints.

i use a simple scanner. and chose the jpg option for the output file. it is timeconsuming, but for me, it was a labour of love.

over 1000 pix and 6 months from start to finish..and that was only a selection of the prints i had.

 

[sarang]

I used a [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]digital [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]camera[/FONT][/FONT] mounted on a micro [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]tripod[/FONT][/FONT] (available for rs. 300 in chennai) and close up mode selected. Distance between [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]lens[/FONT][/FONT] and print is about 9 inches. 1 to 5 mp resolution can be used for shooting in normal ambient light (no flash). This was recommended by the photo magazines. Results are as good as the prints. And the images can be improved with photo editing software.

Professional services also do the same thing with proper equipment for negatives (with back light) and prints. Such services are available in India.

Yes, one can do that Sri Kunjuppu Ji.

But the grain will be lost, limited by the # of digital pixels allowed by the scanner.

A better way is to digitize from the negatives themselves.

Of course, if this is not available in India, then scanning is the next option.

Regards,
KRS