> After being informed of IBM's hundreds of millions in yearly patent revenue, CEO Steve Jobs authorized a change in FireWire's licensing policy. Apple would now charge a fee of $1 per port. (So if a device has two ports, that's $2 per unit.)...Intel sent its CTO to talk to Jobs about the change, but the meeting went badly. Intel decided to withdraw its support for FireWire—to pull the plug on efforts to build FireWire into its chipsets—and instead throw its weight behind USB 2.0, which would have a maximum speed of 480 megabits a second (more like 280, or 30 to 40 MB/s, in practice)...A month later, Apple lowered the fee to 25 cents per (end-user) system, with that money distributed between all patent holders. But it was too late. Intel wasn't coming back to the table. This was the death blow for FireWire in most of the PC market.
For all of you who embrace the "fail fast" mindset, keep this story close as a reminder that some mistakes are irrevocable. This was one decision, reversed after 30 days.
For all of you who embrace the "fail fast" mindset, keep this story close as a reminder that some mistakes are irrevocable. This was one decision, reversed after 30 days.