It is not Photomat, Fuji, digital, etc., that has caused Kodak's
problems. It is Kodak themselves.

Kodak knuckled under to anti-trust laws that were clearly
unconstitutional. Kodak didn't even fight. They simply consented. They
lay down like dogs and licked the government's hands.

They deserve everything they are getting.

  I wonder. I think Kodak will maintain the standing of its
name. In fact, I think it is using the name to establish its
place in digital photography.
  George Eastman recognized that photography was limited to
a few specialists due to the special skills involved. What
he did was to make photography available to amateurs and to
those who were not even amateurs, that is, their only
interest in photograpy was to get snapshots of the family or
travels. Eastman did this by doing all the hard part at the
factory.
  I think digital photography falls right in to this kind
of picture taking. A simple camera (well not so simple
because of the excessively complex menues on some cameras),
that is cheap to operate and requires little or no skil on
the part of the user. One can take memory chips to a store
and have prints made or have it transferred to a disc. Of
course, one can also do this at home, but, just as operating
a darkroom requires some additional skills, transferring
pictures from a memory chip and printing them requires a
little skill.
  The only thing I have against digital photography is that
it is robbing me of the supplies I need for a hobby I enjoy
very much and have had all my life.
  I have some knowledge of digital imaging. In fact, I work
for a television network here in Los Angeles, in the
engineering department of the network center. We are all
digital and have been for years. Digital photography is too
much like what I do for a living. BTW, while I have
accumulated some stock of knowledge about chemical
photography, I am far from being an expert on digital
photography or even digital television. Both are enormounsly
complex fields, with many areas of special knowledge and are
constantly changing.
  Kodak's management is doing what it must to preserve the
company as an attractive investment. They have had to change
the emphasis on product because the product the company grew
up making is no long in demand by a mass market. George
Eastman was above all an excellent business man. If he were
alive now I think he would be another Bill Gates.
    I strongly recommend Elizabeth Brayer's biography of
George Eastman, she is the only biographer who had full
access to the company's archives.