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Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stock bull who wrote (41121)	12/21/1997 2:28:00 PM
From: Rocky Reid	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 58324

>>Doesn't this mean that the "new" IOM disk, the one that makes the Nomai disk incompatible with the "new" disks, also make the "new" IOM disk incompatible with the "old" Zip drives? << I think you have it backwards. I do believe the "fix" is in the drive, not the discs. It is the current Zip drive that will reportedly accept as acceptable media an Iomega Zip disc, a Nomai Zip disc, and a tuna fish sandwich. Iomega failed to include enough patent protection in their bread and butter product, and now they are about to pay the piper for Iomega management's ineptitude. That article by Suzanne Galante was right on with what I have been saying. She claims a Nomai lawyer said, "Iomega has been raping the consumer with its monopolistic practices. We are going to bring lower prices to the market and give consumers a choice." This lawyer is using a very effective argument, and as a result, Iomega is seeing its monopoly on Zips start to crumble. Can Iomega survive as a company with 10% of its Zip disc revenue going to Nomai? Absolutely. But this situation will do nothing but harm IOM stock price, which is why we're all here in the first place. IOM stock will take a hit as fully 10% of Iomega revenue vanishes.

To: stock bull who wrote (41121)	12/21/1997 4:39:00 PM
From: Jim Munroe	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 58324

>>Doesn't this mean that the "new" IOM disk, the one that makes the Nomai disk incompatible with the "new" disks, also make the "new" IOM disk incompatible with the "old" Zip drives? Or, in other words, isn't this a question of forward and backward compatibility for IOM? If IOM doesn't maintain forward and backward compability for their own disks, this would create a real mess for the customer and IOM. Not an easy problem to solve.<< No it does not. The fix I suggest (and it is probably one of many options available to Iomega) is a simple modification to the Zip drives. What it does is take advantage of a sophisticated difference between the patented prismatic retroreflectors used on Iomega Zip disks and the spherical reflectors used by Nomai. The new drives would reliably refuse to operate with a Nomai disk but operate just fine with with Iomega disks. The old drives would probably continue to operate with Nomai disks. Iomega disks would work on all drives while Nomai disks thus would operate only on some drives. Which would you buy?