To: Gary Mohilner who wrote (5658 ) 6/11/1999 7:29:00 PM From: Joe Lyddon Respond to
As I understand it Flash Memory is rather volatile, eDig's MicroOS seems to have overcome the problems normally associated with Flash Memory. They are supposed to have the advances they've made well covered with patents. Actually, flash memory is non-volatile in that when power is removed, it retains it's values. It is, however, tricky & slow to write data TO it and EDIG has developed an easy, more efficient way to do it (those are the functions that are patented). While others can certainly develop a dependable OS, they may find that they have to pay eDig anyway as to do it could require the use of their patents. I'm not saying it will turn out that way, but it could. Yes, I think whatever they would come up with would not be as good as it could be if they were using EDIG's technology. Their choice. From the way these people are speaking with Lucent, I think they may use their own flash memory, but much of the remainder will use eDig's technology. If they didn't want what eDig can provide, do you really think Sony couldn't build their own device. The decision has already been made to use SNDK for their Compact Flash memory (in a recent PR). I really doubt if they would build their own players from scratch. I think that ALL of them will eventually be OEM's using the basic Lucent/Edig design but using their own cases, etc. Very similar to VCR parts now... The main mechanism comes from primarily one source. Walt's post today with the Lucent Interview sheds a lot of light on the subject.
