Path: cdrom.com!barrnet.net!parc!biosci!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!jabba.cybernetics.net!usenet From: vic@cd.com (Vic Serbe) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom Subject: Re: Plextor's quad speed Date: 1 Aug 1994 14:08:54 GMT Organization: Central Data Corp. Lines: 48 Message-ID: <31ivlm$9bn@jabba.cybernetics.net> References: <31e7ko$p6@jabba.cybernetics.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: bambam.cybernetics.net X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.91.6 In article , dce@netcom.com (David Elliott) says: > >In article <31e7ko$p6@jabba.cybernetics.net> vic@cd.com (Vic Serbe) writes: >>CPU overhead and forward compatibility... >>I consider both of these to be of extremely high value... > >But remember that the current level of technology doesn't dictate the >market as much as what people already own. This is true for the most part, but there are a lot of applications out there that, again, only *require* 2x, but still noticably benefit from faster. This is exactly why people like me go ahead and buy the good stuff maybe a little earlier than most. This is also what drives the market to move forward with their hardware. If none of my multimedia software performed any better with the 4Plex, I would have returned it. I don't do much CDROM file copying. >As a software developer, I would love it if the majority of users out >there had >I could write killer software much more easily... >But the fact is that I have to develop for the machines that exist... I understand this, but this is a self-solving problem. The market will move forward. If for no other reason, just because of geeks like me that push the envelope. We talk about how nice it is, and pretty soon everybody's got to have one. Believe me, we just designed a 486 upgrade for a large customer who just HAD to have a 486 under the hood. Their application doesn't even fully utilize a 386DX/20, but they had to have a 486, so we gave them one. All it amounted to, was more CPU free time, and a nifty number on the data sheets. People just move forward when the technology is there, as long as it's competitively priced, which the 4Plex certainly is. I think the presence of the 4Plex at its price will be a significant factor in the CDROM market. The $1000 NEC, if it were to still be the only one, would maintain the current curve. The 4Plex has pretty much killed that. >We're just now getting to a point where there are enough 2x CD-ROM... >I believe that it will be a couple of years before the >mainstream of software development can assume 4x CD-ROM drives. I'd give it one year. 3x is already starting to become standard on some PC's, but only on the high end. I believe 3x will be short-lived, and 4x will be the actual next standard. -- Vic Serbe (vic@cd.com)