Amir has retired

[navychop]

Well, the title says it all. He's left Microsoft, and is really retiring, moving to his retirement home (previously called vacation home). Interesting timing, considering he has one in college and two yet to go. His announcement is here.

 

[chicagofilms]

Who is Amir & what does his retirement mean?

 

[teamerickson]

Who is Amir & what does his retirement mean?

He's a well known AVS insider that works for Microsoft in the HD DVD department I think.

 

[r.jones1116]

Amir Majidimehr
Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation
Consumer Media Technology Group, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division
Microsoft HD DVD insider (Retired circa fall 2007)
VC-1 video codec insider in BD/HD DVD

 

[mike123abc]

His close connection to the studios via the VC-1 coding system let him give some inside information in his posts. He of course was a big VC-1 supporter over AVC, and of course liked HD-DVD...

 

[gadgtfreek]

Good.

 

[IcEWoLF]

I guess its a good time for him to retire.

 

[vurbano]

He will be sorely missed. One of a handful of insiders that know what the hell they are talking about in the war. Probably THE most technically knowledgeable VC-1 insider there is at AVS.

 

[diogen]

The best hidef optical vs. downloads and their pros/cons I've seen so far. And it comes from the new retiree Amir.

On HD optical, price for content and players needs to keep dropping to within shouting distance of DVD or the market in my opinion, will not go much past 20% of DVD. We know consumer apathy toward higher "quality" is very high and this is something that simply cannot be fixed. So we have to provide value proportional to it which we know is not at 10X the player cost and 2X the media cost.

Digital distribution is even worse off today. Consumers at large don't have ready access to it as they do with optical players. Nor do they do understand its value proposition. Actually, I don't know that the value proposition is really there yet as no one has made any money from it.

To put some scale on this, if HD optical has 2 problems, digital has 20. However, and this is important, if digital solves these problems one day, its value proposition by definition is superior to making plastic discs, shipping them to stores, and have you buy them after some delay. So when the time comes, the shift will be dramatic and highly disruptive to optical business.

In balance, if you pushed me, I would say given the state of technology, infrastructure, drive from companies to make one or the other successful, that HD optical is ahead. But I reserve the right to change my opinion on a 12 month basis.

Taken from here
AVS Forum - View Single Post - Industry Insiders Master Q&A thread IV: ONLY Questions to Insiders

Diogen.

 

[John Kotches]

I don't suppose anyone has considered that over the years Amir has amassed enough between salary, bonuses and stock options to retire with more than enough money to live comfortably without working.

Personally, I'm happy for him and having heard stories over breakfast at CEDIA about his vacation home, he's going to be a very happy man.

I doubt he'll miss the constant travel.

Cheers,

 

[vurbano]

I don't suppose anyone has considered that over the years Amir has amassed enough between salary, bonuses and stock options to retire with more than enough money to live comfortably without working.

Personally, I'm happy for him and having heard stories over breakfast at CEDIA about his vacation home, he's going to be a very happy man.

I doubt he'll miss the constant travel.

Cheers,

I agree.

 

[vurbano]

Good.

He must have spanked you good.

 

[gadgtfreek]

He must have spanked you good.

Nope, he actually annoys me. Every time Ive asked him a question directly(usually after he made it a point to dump on BD) he ignored it. People on the HDDVD side treat him like a saint because he tells them what they want to hear sometimes, regardless of fact.

But hey, he's real smart(diogens post above shows how he has the great ability to state the obvious) sometimes. :down

He really nailed the BD50 myth didnt he . Id miss him about as much as Id miss the mods at AVM$.

 

[r.jones1116]

Nope, he actually annoys me. Every time Ive asked him a question directly(usually after he made it a point to dump on BD) he ignored it. People on the HDDVD side treat him like a saint because he tells them what they want to hear sometimes, regardless of fact.

But hey, he's real smart(diogens post above shows how he has the great ability to state the obvious) sometimes. :down

He really nailed the BD50 myth didnt he . Id miss him about as much as Id miss the mods at AVM$.

And he annoys you why? because he doesn't share your point blu.

 

[vurbano]

Nope, he actually annoys me. Every time Ive asked him a question directly(usually after he made it a point to dump on BD) he ignored it. .

He probably has the rif raf on ignore.