Electronic Media
Published: 05-20-96


ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS


By - Joe Fedele 


There's a pervasive trend creeping into our industry that's hard 

to ignore. Just about everywhere you look, companies are selling 

ideas rather than products and services.


That's not to say that selling an idea is a bad thing. But some 

companies are making promises that are too far from the reality 

of today's technology. Perhaps the theme song of the '90s should 

be ``Promises, Promises.''


This epidemic of promise-making has afflicted just about 

everyone from broadcast equipment manufacturers to telephone 

company and cable operations executives.


The cable business has taken a beating in the press recently for  

its claims that  cable modems are right around the corner.


Telcos have taken their lumps for their attempt to enter the 

video market.


And the software industry is certainly not immune. Microsoft 

promised it had  an operating system that would be the best 

thing since silicon chips. What it delivered was Windows 95, 

which has more bugs and requires more patches than Microsoft 

cares to admit.


Those of you smart enough not to have been a Windows 95 guinea 

pig will be happy to know that Windows 97 should be released 

soon. 


And then there are the broadcast equipment manufacturers.


Panasonic showed up at the National Association of Broadcasters 

convention singing a tune of promises as it unveiled a 

``semi-working'' model of its new DVC-PRO field tape editing 

pack.


Executives proudly pointed out that both of the tape transports 

were functional-but the editing functions won't be ready until 

later in the third quarter. 


Sony got into the act when it introduced its competing field 

editor, which utilizes the new Beta SX format.


However, the Sony editor wasn't even a ``semi-working'' model. 

It was a plastic shell, with no working guts. The real thing 

won't be ready for at least six months.


When Panasonic introduced its nonworking, plastic mock-up to the 

world earlier this year, a couple of Sony reps I know poked fun 

by wondering aloud how well the plastic and plywood worked. It's 

amusing now to see the very same reps pointing at their own 

version of the future with pride. 


I suppose the lesson to be learned here is that vendors working 

in glass factories shouldn't throw stones.


Companies ranging from Abekas to Tektronix have leapt to tell us 

how Fibre Channel will link their widgets to the world. 


Fibre Channel is a new serial digital network protocol capable 

of sending data at 1,000 megabits per second. Such blazing speed 

promises to blow Ethernet out of existence as a video delivery 

system.


Ah, but there's that word again, ``promises.''


Since Fibre Channel is still under development, no one has 

anything to offer but promises.


Then there's high-definition television. It's coming! It really 

is coming! Enough said.


I seem to remember a time when only working models made it to a 

convention floor, while products still under development were 

relegated to a suite down the hall. Lately I've come to believe 

that our facilities are destined to become permanent beta test 

sites for broadcast equipment manu-facturers.


Why do I get the feeling that top-notch, bulletproof product is 

slowly being replaced by half-tested, unfinished widgets that 

may be obsolete faster than my $1,000 Atari computer was back in 

1985?


Equipment manufacturers appear to be in a holding pattern 

waiting for technology and software engineers to catch up with 

their promises. Until then, the only promise that will come true 

is that we can all expect more promises.