Re: [Leica] Researching R8 reliability

[Martin Howard <howard.390@osu.edu>]

Pascal jotted down the following:

> while I do see your point, I am a little afraid that such survey will,
> once again, stir up a useless debate on you-know-what.
> While user experiences from this group are certainly valuable, it is
> difficult to make the case that these are representative enough for the
> whole worldwide installed R8 user base. I feel it may also lead to
> incomplete and/or erroneous conclusions.

I don't know what conclusions will be possible to draw from this.
Therefore, you don't know what conclusions (if any) I'm going to be drawing,
so how can you assume that they will be incomplete or erroneous?

I'm not quite dumb enough to believe that collecting information from
volunteers on the LUG is going to result in a wholly accurate description of
all R8s in the world.  However, the assumption that I am making is that R8
are essentially randomly distributed with regard to LUG membership.  In
other words, I am assuming that R8s owned by luggers are not going to be
more or less error-prone than those owned by non-luggers.  Secondly, I hope
that by calling for information from both those who have problematic R8s and
those who have R8s that have functioned perfectly, both groups will be more
or less equally happy to volunteer the information.

My aim is to get SOME real-world data that says SOMETHING beyond the
outbursts of anger that people write upon their second R8 failing and having
to wait three months for the replacement.  Exactly what that something
consists of I will only know after December 1st.  As for it stirring up a
useless debate: I have asked that people send this info to me privately.  I
will not debate it, I will simply present the summary and any conclusions or
trends that I see when the time comes.  If this sparks a debate on the LUG,
so be it (I'd welcome it).  I'm certainly not going to let any fear of
traffic volume on the LUG stop me.

M.

- -- 
Martin Howard                     | "Go sell crazy somewhere else.  We're
Visiting Scholar, CSEL, OSU       |  all stocked up here!"
email: howard.390@osu.edu         |                    -- Melvin Udall
www: http://mvhoward.i.am/        +---------------------------------------