Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/21

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Wonders of plastic -- am I an old fart at 43? [off topic and longish]
From: Dieter Stoll <dstoll@tuebingen.netsurf.de>
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:01:37 +0200

Hi all,
this has been nagging me for a while, but I didn't know whom to share it
with. For lack of a better idea I'll throw it on y'all :-)
Is it just me, or are there others around my "tender" age (see subject
line) who feel that they're rapidly drifting away towards the "old fart"
side of things? But at the same time, not "old" enough not to care about
the new developments. I think the recent darkroom vs. photoshop/inkjet has
shown the issue: new technology, with all its quirks, lack of longevity,
and definite lack of sexiness does exert a gravitational pull that's pretty
hard to resist. So, I feel there is a constant schism here: on one hand,
the niceties afforded by going digital all the way (of which LUG is a very
good example), on the other hand, the disgust of the attitude that seems to
be inherent to modern day economics -- throw-away mentality, "innovation"
cycles of six months (along with a gallopping deprecation of your
investment), killing off the traditional dealers with their necessarily
higher markup than the discount store manned by a sales clerk who doesn't
know his <meep> from a hole in the ground, and so on.
Whoever has made it this far in reading.. thanks for bearing with me on
this tour de grudge. What the heck, I feel better now. Now where's that
flameproof suit again...
Cheers,
- -- Dieter

Dieter Stoll                  D-72127 Kusterdingen, Germany
dstoll@tuebingen.netsurf.de   Home fax: +49-7071-368520