[mrstampe]

Fantastic history, Richard! We see these format wars repeating themselves across so many technologies -- most recently Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. Technological competition drives the industry forward, but can leave a sordid trail. At least with the variety of aspect ratios, all we have to do is endure black boxes on the image edges rather than having to abandon whole format systems for another (ie. Betamax, HD-DVD, etc.).