RE: (erielack) A Tense Kodak Moment

["Schuyler Larrabee" <schuyler.larrabee_@_verizon.net>]

> 
> I can tell you what it means for Kodak: probable oblivion. 
> Another lumbering dinosaur of America's manufacturing age, it 
> fiddled for years when it should have been aggressively 
> embracing digital. Reminds me of another paradigm shift in 
> "format" that occured a few years ago: Baldwin, Lima and Alco 
> attempted to succeed in the diesel market, but all were 
> eventually swept away by the newcomers.
> 
> Paul B
 
Paul, I designed some office and electronic lab space for Kodak in Lowell, MA, where the digital
products of the company are principally developed, there being a lot more computer design talent
here than in upstate NY (no flames, please).  There were clearly tensions between Rochester and
Lowell.  The computer-oriented people here could see what was coming, and they were doing their
damndest to bail the ship, but those in Rochester were overly married to the conventional film and
paper.  The people in Lowell did come up with very solid products, and I think they're unfortunately
saddled with a name you can buy in the drugstore, because of the film, and there's an implicit air
about them that they're not "serious" digital equipment.  That isn't really the case.

I suppose the comparison between Kodak and Baldwin, Lima, and Alco and so on is possibly reasonable,
since the diesel talent at those companies may have had better ideas than they could get through top
management's heads.

SGL

SGL


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