<p>[Eastman</a> Kodak Files for Bankruptcy - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Eastman Kodak Files for Bankruptcy - The New York Times”>Eastman Kodak Files for Bankruptcy - The New York Times)</p>
<p>And another American icon bites the dust…</p>
<p>This to me is much sadder than Twinkies.</p>
<p>My dad was an amateur photographer & we even had a darkroom in the basement so he could develop & print his own photos.</p>
<p>Those yellow boxes were a big part of my childhood.</p>
<p>[A</a> Brief History of Kodak Kodachrome Film - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1906503,00.html]A”>http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1906503,00.html)</p>
<p>It is sobering to realize that Kodak invented the digital camera, but then lost out to the digital age. As my dear late uncle would say, this is a good example of p**s-poor management. So sad. Especially for Rochester.</p>
<p>Sad, I did my own photo printing as a teenager and obviously Kodak film was a major part of anyone taking pictures. Sadly, they are also the classic example of the corporate monolith who failed to grasp change, specifically the digital revolution, and ended up being in the position of trying to play catch up, and couldn’t, they thought as they had for a lot of their history to be in control of things. Kodak has shown a steady decline for many years, at first they were trumped by Polaroid with instant photography which among other things took away a significant chunk of business with medical imaging, they tried entering the copier business when nimble firms like Canon and Minolta were innovating and creating a revolution, and then when the digital revolution hit they were caught with their pants down and have struggled to find a niche with digital cameras and printers that are supposed to be low cost quality, but end up being just low cost. Along with GM, they are a pretty classic example of corporate inbreeding, where basically those running the show were fully inculcated in the “Kodak Way” and they forgot Kodak got to where they were by innovating and creating.</p>
<p>From what I heard, their chemical business is not doing too badly. Kodak owns a massive IP portfolio that should be worth something, as well. When rumors of the BK swirled back in December, I decided to stay out and did not touch their stock. That was a good decision.</p>
<p>My son has been seriously thinking of applying to grad school in the Visual Studies program at the U. of Rochester. I have the impression that that program works with and/or relies upon Kodak to some extent. I wonder if he needs to be concerned about that, or about being in Rochester in general, in light of this.</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>[Paul</a> Simon Art Garfunkel Kodachrome Maybellene - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away</p>
<p>I wonder if they’ll rename Kodachrome Basin in Utah now? (JK)</p>
<p>[Kodachrome</a> Basin State Park | Utah.com](<a href=“http://www.utah.com/stateparks/kodachrome.htm]Kodachrome”>http://www.utah.com/stateparks/kodachrome.htm)</p>
<p>Its a chapter 11 reorg… I have my finger crossed hoping they can come out of it. If they file for chapter 7, then it is dead.</p>
<p>Really sad for those of us who are stuck in our memories of the 70s. Does anyone still remember “dodging” and “burning”? Wasn’t ever a great fan of Kodak cameras, though, and was really surprised by the earlier post that they had invented the digital camera. What went wrong - you would have thought they would have moved in to own the camera market too. I wonder many times if people such as myself who peaked by the mid eighties are about as relevant to the world as the Kodaks, the DECs, and the like.</p>
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<p>And Xerox invented Ethernet, the graphical user interface (windows) and the computer mouse.</p>
<p>It’s not what you invent that counts, it’s what you sell.</p>
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<p>My former neighbors in Queens!</p>
<p>No, sadly, never met them. Much older than me.</p>
<p>DH’s office mate from grad school worked at Kodak in the 80’s developing optical storage devices (think CDs and DVDs) to support the digital camera project. In fact, he was a relatively high level project manager for them. He was constantly frustrated because Kodak didn’t think there was a future for the concept and severely underfunded the research. Eventually, the whole project got shut down and the friend left for the green pastures of Silicon Valley start ups.</p>
<p>Kodak also purchased imaging technology from Wang years back:</p>
<p>[Kodak</a> snaps up Wang imaging - CNET News](<a href=“http://news.cnet.com/Kodak-snaps-up-Wang-imaging/2100-1001_3-266002.html]Kodak”>Kodak snaps up Wang imaging - CNET)</p>
<p>Didn’t do either of them much good.</p>
<p>^^ where I worked till '91, and received about 60c/share when the company was sold after they were worth about 42 bucks at one time.</p>