Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >This requires a definition of obsolete. The one I use is: >"A product is considered obsolete when it is no longer produced, that >is, when it is replaced by something else by the original >manufacturer or by another manufacturer."
This is the definition most commonly used in business, especially manufacturing. When I was the Components Engineer responsible for discrete semiconductors at the Big Corporation I used to work for <g> I had to spend a lot of time trying to find obsolete parts for our production runs. These parts weren't unusable (obviously). In fact, in that field, it was often the case that a semiconductor was both state-of-the-art (nothing of equal or superior capabilities available) *and* obsolete at the same time! In the cases I typically saw the manufacturer stopped making the device because it wasn't selling well enough to justify continued production, not because it was superceded by something better. Still an obsolete part as far as we were concerned. >By that definition, my Nikon FM was obsolete as soon as the FM2 model >appeared. I bought the FM body, used, after the FM2 appeared on the >market and used it for another 19 years. Someone else bought it after >me and, presumably, is continuing to use it. > >Obsolete does not imply not used or not usable. You got it. -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
