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by incorporating CD-RW support directly into future operating systems, Philips, Sony, Compaq, and Microsoft have unilaterally declared CD-RW to be the replacement for the floppy disk. They call it "Mt. Rainier." What others may call it is another matter-maybe highhanded? Or arrogant? It's like declaring darkness the industry standard if you aren't smart enough to change a light bulb.
But haven't consumers already chosen CD-R as the best technology for the replacement job? Thanks to its lower media cost, higher formatted capacity, greater compatibility, and higher performance, CD-R makes for a far superior floppy replacement than does CD-RW. So, if operating system storage support should be added for anything, it should be for CD-R.
When justifying the exclusive position of CD-RW in the Mt. Rainier proposal, the participants maintain that the mainstream buying public has a psychological need for rewritable storage. Practical experience with CD-R, however, has shown this to be a false premise. Manufacturers are simply projecting their own prejudices and foisting them onto consumers.
Flying in the face of the argument that successful storage and distribution media must be rewritable, CD-R has proven itself to be "Digital Kleenex", affirming the proposition that if something good is inexpensive enough, it becomes ubiquitous and comes to be treated as disposable, which obviates the rewritability question.
According to the promotional literature circulated by the Mt. Rainier participants, CD-RW has been wildly...