Sony Shifts on Open Source
The partnership between Sony Corp. (SNE) and Google Inc. (GOOG) highlights the changes taking place in TV viewing habits, but it is also symbolic of another change: Sony’s stance on open-source technology.
Historically, the knock on Sony has been that it has a blind allegiance to its own proprietary technology. From Betamax to ATRAC, Sony’s compression format which eventually lost out to MP3, the company often paid the price for its NIH (Not Invented Here) Syndrome.
If Sony’s format didn’t become the standard, early Sony adopters were left in the dark. Are there any Digital Audio Tape users out there?
The company, however, seems to have had a change of heart in recent years.
