The 21 Biggest Technology Flops

[BJ_M]

We fondly recall 21 overpromoted products and technologies that utterly failed to live up to their hype -- and we give you a chance to choose the biggest flop of all.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012...rce=rss_news50

[SquirrelDip]

I wonder why Vista isn't on the list?

[AlecWest]

I wonder why Vista isn't on the list?

Read next year's article (grin).

I was flabbergasted that Quadraphonic Stereo wasn't on the list. But, I noticed that the article only covered "recent" marketing failures. Quadraphonics was a MAJOR miscalculation on the part of audio manufacturers. The wave of the future just crashed on the shore.

[KBeee]

There was 2 competing Quad audio setups.. both died a horrible death.
BR and HD DVD anyone?

[AlecWest]

There was 2 competing Quad audio setups.. both died a horrible death.
BR and HD DVD anyone?

At my local WalMart store (the store of choice for the middle-class masses), a series of 4 shelves about 30-40 feet long hold nothing but standard definition sets ... some of them with the widescreen and/or flatscreen format that looks like HD (but isn't). The HD sets, all big, are on one shelf perpendicular to the SD sets. And it seems that while people like to look at the HD sets, they're walking out of the store with SD sets (or ED sets). Another local store (Fred Meyer) I just visited yesterday had 3 (count 'em) HD sets, 1 ED set, and everything else SD. Of course, the SD sets are all "digital-ready" for the big conversion to come via the FCC.

If people keep demanding (and buying) SD sets, BR vs. HD-DVD will be a format war that nobody shows up for - kinda like the SQ vs. Discrete Quadraphonics war. 8)

[MrMoody]

Quadraphonic is staging something of a comeback now, thanks to many people now having home theater systems that can play it. Many of the 70s quad releases are now available again as DVDAs, SACDs and DTS-CDs.

[ozymango]

There was 2 competing Quad audio setups.. both died a horrible death.
BR and HD DVD anyone?

Only two? I can think of 4 different Quad format off the top of my head!

And, technically speaking, "Quadrophonic Stereo" is a particular subset of Quadrophonic sound, not to be confused with "Stereo Quadrophonic" ... ...

I had a couple of different Quad stereo receivers back in the day (this was mid 80's but the gear was late 70's) and a few Quad 8 tracks and nope, never could get the sound to work just right. But still, it was fun playing with all that stuff!

Plus I don't really think it's fair to say that Quadrophonic audio as an idea was at all a failure, just the technological implementations of the time (versus some of the tech crap on the list) -- it just took Dolby Labs to figure out how to squeeze and extract multi-channel sound in a way that didn't require a degree in engineering just to use an amp!

[sacajaweeda]

Anyone remember GTE Telego back in the early 90s?

"GTE is introducing a new telephone base unit that connects a wireless personal communications service (PCS) handset to the regular phone service when it is in range. In effect, it turns a wireless phone into a more run-of-the-mill cordless phone that uses less expensive local phone service around the house.

"For a small monthly fee, ranging from $15 to $25 per month, customers will have unlimited use around the home. They will then pay a nominal per-minute fee of approximately 20 to 30 cents to use the Tele-Go service away from home."

GTE cellular service markets where Tele-Go service is offered include: Tampa/St. Petersburg, Sarasota/Bradenton, Ft. Myers/Naples, and Lakeland, in Florida; Salem and Portland in Oregon; Houston and Galveston in Texas; Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland, Canton and Akron in Ohio; and Maui, Hawaii."

Apparently they realized how much money they were going to lose and yanked it.

[BJ_M]

i never heard of it -- nor quite understand how it was supposed to work

[Guest]

I think DATs take the cake.I saw them in a record store for about 2 months.less than 50 titles.