Now, I can finally convince my husband that we NEED a PS3!

Actually, I’m glad that Toshiba has the guts to exit the business this quickly, thinking more about the customer and the company’s future than their own pride at this single moment in time.  Also, this allows them to quickly switch gears and concentrate on something else, which from this article is NAND drives — no doubt a good area to be investing in as laptops become more mobile and mobile electronics demand more memory.  I also like the idea of NAND drives being using as the primary Windows drive for quick Vista boot and speedy deployment of programs. Again, great for Toshiba, for showing that a large company can be agile :).

But what about those people who bought HD-DVD drives, like those folks who bought the HDX laptop.  Do we intend to make it right?  Will a discounted switch to Blu-Ray be offered or is the customer SOL for taking the gamble?  Personally, I would like to see the obsolete drives taken back in to HP for recycling rather than thrown in the landfill.  I also think swapping the drives for a reasonable fee would make customers who paid a bunch for their PC or laptop very happy.  In the long run, this is good for us because customers that may have been holding on the large purchase, can now execute.

Now here’s an excellent article from the Associated Press on Toshiba’s announcement.

Toshiba Quits HD DVD Business

By YURI KAGEYAMA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 19, 2008; 12:16 PM

Warner Bros. opens a new facility to observe consumers using emerging content viewing technologies. 

I think it’s kinda funny that the Warner Bros. people themselves are not trying to live on the edge.  Living on the edge, myself, I see that a lot of insight can be gained by struggling with emerging technologies.  Well, I hope they don’t guide themselves down the “primose path” by forcing an environment.