Most newspapers now use digital cameras (often N*k*n). They get regular service from the same people who used to service their film cameras. Usually the service that's required is mechanical in nature (e.g., mirror alignment). Of course, a few years down the road we may see more failures of the electronics.
My personal experience with electronic devices is that they are EXTEMELY robust (failures tend to occur immediately or never). I have a transistor radio from 1974 that still works great. I have a calculator from 1985 that I still use (and the LCD hasn't faded). Having fewer mechanical components, I would expect most digital cameras to be more reliable than film cameras. The main considerations in digital camera longevity are, IMO, the availability of electronic spares, and software support. And these issues will only become important many years from now, when the current digital cameras will be obsolescent anyway. For those of us who collect and use old cameras, digital cameras are problematic. A mechanical SLR can be kept going more or less forever, since many spares can be fabricated. That's not generally true for electronic devices. Some electronic film cameras made 25 years ago are unrepairable. But for professional photographers, or really anyone else who doesn't plan to keep a camera for a lifetime, I can't see digital camera robustness being a problem. Jeff
