A new Harris poll shows the interactive services market may not be all it's cracked up to be. Almost three fourths wanted a customized news report, and about half wanted e-mail. The new version of Adobe Photoshop does a disappearing act Jan. 1 if you don't get the update. Currently, faculty members pay nothing, and universities pay a fixed annual fee based on the operating grant they receive from the federal government. Analog video provides more subtle gradations, because the technology doesn't require that picture be interpreted only in terms of 1s and 0s.
Reliability can also be a problem.
When an analog picture degrades, it does so gradually, often enabling the viewer to continue watching a compromised image. Digital pictures respond to interference with a sudden freeze, or disappear altogether.