Re: Kodak digital printer, et al...

[Judy Seigel <jseigel@panix.com>]

On Sat, 3 May 2008, Diana Bloomfield wrote:

> Hi Judy,
>
> I did read that yesterday.  This is the link to it, but you may have to sign 
> in to access it: 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/technology/02kodak.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
> I was amazed by the electrical engineer who invented the first digital camera 
> (according to him) in the early 1970's, and management had no interest 
> because there was no need for film.  Understandable since they made their 
> money from film, but for a company that, at one time, must have been 
> incredibly forward-thinking-- what happened between then and now?
Thanks for link Diana.

As for what happened to "forward-thinking" Kodak -- your message reminds 
me that when I bought a new computer monitor at J&R, circa 1989 or '90. a 
free Kodak digital camera came with it: 3 megapixels.

I lent it to some digital maven for a job he was doing, and evidently he 
was able to make it do what he wanted, but it didn't come with the CD of 
instructions. Somehow I managed to get that a year later, too late to be 
of interest -- but the freebie does suggest that they didn't/couldn't sell 
what they had actually manufactured. Either they didn't market it, or it 
was too minimal, or just too early... but it may have turned them off 
digital (if they weren't already, which they probably were).

J.