> On another note, not sure you saw the video of the Sony rep---they are
> firmly embracing the idea of the cams as being used for alt glass of all
> sorts and have an open API with developers free to write add on apps. Panny
> was downright hostile to any hacks and Canyon seems neutral--at least never
> directly sabotaged CHDK or Magic Lantern. It would be amusing if Sony
> actually made the adapters.
Paternalistic thinking that Panasonic has towards this is not
uncommon. The biggest purveyer of it is Apple and it has somewhat
worked for them for years. I say "somewhat" because in the computing
world, Apple has found a high density following in only several narrow
vertical markets.
Personally, I'm of the Linux mentality and want as open of a platform
as possible. For one thing, the platform is less likely to be
abandoned as quickly. Case in point would be my first-generation iPad
which is no longer supported by any more app development. Here, we pay
a premium for a premium-grade product which is as quickly abandoned
and turned into a brick as can be. But, another case in point would be
the E-1, which got a couple firmware updates to bug fix, but all the
software (API and firmware) was literally thrown away. The marketing
fluff about an updateable camera body was just that--marketing fluff.
I'm not picking on just Olympus here, because in the early days of
DSLRs, this was a common theme from almost everybody and actual
history shows this to be a deception given to us, the consumer, to buy
into the new technology without fearing the unknown.
As to SONY's "open platform" thinking, well, this is actually not new.
In the pro video world, they have had a published standard on their
mounts and interfaces for a zillion years and really only required a
nominal licensing fee, at most, for most things. Once in a while they
got ornery, but really not that much. Their entire video ecosystem was
pretty complete, though, so you could really just settle into a single
brand name and be safe.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|