OK, I will grant that I am a bit testy - more testy - at times. For that, I apologize.
But you must also cut me enough slack and understand that repeating something that is really very much pointing toward FUD, if not already there, is also not good form. You opened that post by dredging up the oldest argument around:
"Why would anyone pay over $350 for a point and shoot that was only 1.5MP?"
the underlying reasoning of which has been hashed around here since February-March 2002. You got pushed back on that by JL and amended your basic premises in your next posting on that thread:
"I'm saying that 3.4MP of Foveon imagery is easily the equal of 6MP and even (in some cases) 8MP Bayer imagery. There's no need to call the SD10 a 10.2MP camera (which it isn't) or the Polaroid X530 a 4.5MP camera (which it isn't).
"But what I was REALLY saying was that the Polaroid is priced too high.
"It's not a near-$400 camera, in my view. There's just too much out there now at that price point that can better it in any number of ways."
Those are points one could discuss (again, in part; the price issue is at the core for you, and that is essential). So why bring up the initial posting? Why not restate your concern and your essential question and move the discussion forward? Just bringing up the same point invites another push back from JL and it is a tactic, which drove me nuts around here for ages, where some people just cannot seem to move beyond their narrow agenda. Cranking up an old squeeze box is of limited entertainment value, in my book.
And that is what hit my switch. I like discussions, and I like them when they move forward. When discussions start to do so, and someone keeps pulling it back to their little bully pulpit, certainly in some cases just to get attention (present company excepted), I get a little ragged in the old nerves department. For getting ragged, I apologize. For trying to keep your more important point - pricing - moving forward, I don't.
As Marcel said, we are all more or less equal in the ether. Normally, I would (and have) posted such a comment off forum, but your address is not available and a search of Google pulls up a few too many Steve Gareys for a useful mailing.
If this is true:
"But if you knew MY background, my history of accomplishments and the number of significant product introductions that are attached to my name, you'd apologize."
then, after apologizing for my misstep, I am even more astounded that you would not appreciate the current situation for the Polaroid x530. Yes, the road to release has been and still is rough. Yes, there have been more information misspeaks than one would want. Yes, in all likelihood some folks have fumbled the ball more than once. Yes, there are some pretty hideous images floating around.
But, it is also still not on the market. What you are talking about is still a pre-production tool. It is also an initial product, which is also often fraught with problems. And a lot of people are trying to show what it cannot do.
The last point is something that goes counter to everything I have done in my life. I believe in showing what things will do; what cannot be done is self-stated. I have always believed in pushing the limits. And in my own modest little life, that is how I have achieved anything.
I am not here as some Foveon flunky. But I do appreciate their guts to have a go at this market, and that respect provides the backdrop for a lot of my thinking. I perhaps cut them a little more slack than most, because I respect them for what **** Merrill once said in this forum:
"happily America is still populated by large numbers of people who
foolishly believe that if they invent a better mousetrap, they have
a chance at going up against the big guys and winning. especially if the big guys are focused on incremental improvements to traditional technologies."
From here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1000&message=6544921
Call me an idealist, if you want, but after all the cr@p around here about what a schitty place the US is for whatever reason, this comment reminds me of what is best about the place. I guess I get kind of pi$$ed off when someone tears up that bit too.
With all due respect.
--
Laurence
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
http://www.pbase.com/lmatson/root
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/root
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd10
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd9
http://www.beachbriss.com (eternal test site)
