Interesting stuff, what do you think?

I don't think the digital Christmas has started: it'll be another month or two before the poor dealers really have to shift stock I reckon.

As for Olympus: I notice that the medical side saw an increase in business by 14%. And profits there were only down because they spent a squillion buying Gyrus: not the mark of a company in trouble IMHO.

IMHO people might stop buying compacts, but the medical market (the basis of Oly's expertise in glass) is unlikely to be hit too hard in a downturn. And they can deliver quality glass for less (for various reasons discussed at length elsewhere). Moreover the evidence suggests they've been (very comfortably) selling DSLRs at subsidised prices for some time (thats why AP's tests are always so odd, I guess: the competition at any given level always costs a shedload more for the same quality). And M4/3 might - possibly - be a money spinner. After all, Samsung, a company who could eat Olympus, Canon and Nikon for breakfast and still be hungry by lunchtime, obviously think the idea has legs, hence they are planning a competing system. And no doubt the rest will follow Olympus as per usual in 12 months or so.

IMHO I don't think I'd worry too much about my system.

(Unless of course it was manufactured by someone flogging office photocopiers. That's a place people will definitely save money...)