D600 dust/oil. Everybody is running around with their hair on fire. Is there really an issue?

I've had 2 D60's and 1 D40. I only cleaned their sensors once and that was when I handed them over to their respective new owners. It made them feel good that the sensor was freshly squeaky clean, even though there was nothing there to clean.

I cleaned my D70 and D90 maybe 6 times between the two of them and it was always for external dust (I was changing lenses often, and in dusty harvest fields)

I've had a Panasonic GF1 for 3 years that I have never cleaned because it's spotless, even though the sensor is hanging out there in the open during lens changes. I haven't had to touch my OMD yet either.

Who is to say that Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, or Canon don't have similar issues during initial production runs. If they have, then they do an excellent job of keeping the affected units out of the hands of consumers until the they eliminate the cause.

My D600's sensor was a pig sty right out of the box (actually the 2nd camera was worse than the first one). Each shot adds at least 1 more oil spot (big black long blobs).

Nikon blew it with their silence and by refusing to acknowledge their poor judgement. I think Nikon is going to just walk away from the stink of their blunder by rushing the D600's next half-axed upgrade. IMHO the D600 will have a short run. Watch for more bundle specials and price drops.