Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/09/22

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Subject: [Leica] Re: LUG Digest, Vol 35, Issue 482
From: grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey@mchsi.com)
Date: Sat Sep 22 21:19:28 2007

When I read this it did nothing to make me think they were making a change 
to fix a design flaw, or that the previous M8's were inferior.  Again the 
Leica User community tends to read far more into a statement about/from 
Leica and its products, than is needed.  Especially concerning new products, 
such as the M8.  I can see it right now, if Leica had not said anything at 
all, and someone out there sees that the current M8's have Firmware 1.108, 
and the current version on their download sitre is 1.107.  What is Leica 
trying to hide?  I can see about 500 instant conspiracy posts on the LUG and 
othe Leica sites would have popped up.  They just tried to avoid this, but 
it did not work, as now everybody thinks they have made changes to fix a 
major design flaw.  Give it a break, parts availability change everyday as 
manufacturers drop parts, or modify parts from their lines all the time 
without any notice to their customers.

Gene

-------------- Original message from Douglas Sharp <douglas.sharp@gmx.de>: 
-------------- 


> Stan and Gene, 
> do you inform your customers every time, and in such a way that makes 
> them think what they had before was somehow not up to scratch? I doubt it. 
> 
> Looking back on Leica's recent track record - like refusing to admit 
> that the early R8 was scratching films, that the flash system didn't 
> work right, that the DMR wasn't going to be ready for a long time and 
> many others - they certainly lost a lot of their prevoiously 
> excellentcredibility. Leica was more credible when they remained 
> secretive and built "perfect" products. There are better ways of 
> creating persuasive product awareness than information like they 
> recently published. 
> 
> An interesting comparison: The same thing happened to Rollei with their 
> SL2000F, and ruined the company's 35mm SLR business, even though they 
> managed to correct the problems and went on to build the excellent 3300. 
> Cheers 
> Douglas 
> 
> grduprey@mchsi.com wrote: 
> > Very true. I have about 3 or more engineering change orders every week 
> > for 
> approval to use a replacement part where the suppliers have changed or 
> replaced 
> a part with a new one, which may or may not be an exact fit or function 
> replacement. 
> > 
> > Gene 
> > 
> > -------------- Original message from Stan Yoder : 
> -------------- 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >>> If I'm a manufacturer I don't go around telling people I'm having to 
> >>> botch something together because I don't have the parts - IMO, the 
> >>> silly 
> >>> buggers could just as well have kept quiet about the new version. 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >> What? And have another bunch of neurotic yahoos bitch about Leica's 
> >> buggery 
> >> secretive practices? 
> >> 
> >> And anyway, it's not about not having parts, it's about a supplier 
> >> changing a 
> >> part, which happens 
> >> all the time in most product lives. 
> >> 
> >> Stan Yoder 
> >> 
> >> _______________________________________________ 
> >> Leica Users Group. 
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information 
> >> 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________ 
> > Leica Users Group. 
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> Leica Users Group. 
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information