Wow Tech, you really are married to the defense of a company. Being a super fan isn't helpful, especially when trying to be objective.
Clearly we have different attitudes. You look for every real or perceived or mistaken weakness to attack Hasselblad as a company in order to diminish their reputation and disparage one or more of their product lines. Sometimes this is done by someone that wants to sell you something else. My personal opinion, from what I can gather from your posts, is that Hasselblad hasn't followed your playbook regarding what they should make, when they should make it, and how to communicate about future product plans and it appears to greatly upset you. While you're obviously not alone in this attitude, you appear to take on the air of speaking for "all" of us. You don't. Neither do I. The world has a lot of photographers in it and it's a far larger world than you or me or all of the people that post on or visit this forum. And they're all making photographs of whatever they choose with whatever they choose.
The difference in attitude is that I don't expect to have much influence over the tools that the various manufacturers make available for me. I survey what's available, choose what works best for my particular needs, and try to use them to the best of my abilities. I'm happy there are so many great tools available! I use a product until I decide there is something that suits my current needs better and when finances permit move to that product instead. In the interim, I continue to use the former product that has given me good service and allowed me to pay my bills and earn a living. What I've never felt any urge to do is to go online and disparage some company or another for not doing what
I think they should do. I wouldn't get any satisfaction from that. Others obviously do however.
As to my (product) marriages, the longest lasting ones over 20+ years, have been to: A 4 MP Leaf DCB II Live mounted on a Hasselblad EL which made excellent images for its time, but was a complicated array of proprietary cables, an RGB filter wheel hanging in front of the lens, AC power supply, custom card installed in the computer, and given all the potential points for failure, I held my breath every morning and hoped it would fire up and work the rest of the day without incident! But... it paid the bills and for itself. Next was a 6 MP Leaf Volare mounted to a Sinarcam which was attached to the rear standard of a Sinar P2. The Sinarcam housed the RGB filters internally and had a precise and durable rotary shutter. For me, it felt more integrated and was a definite improvement.
That back was replaced with a SinarBack 23HR (and later a 22 MP SinarBack 54H) which had the same 6 MP sensor; but instead of a monochrome sensor shooting thru an RGB filter wheel to produce color, it had a Bayer filter array that offered single-shot color, 4-shot full color resolution, and 16-shot higher resolution color. Plus, everything was Sinar; the back, camera, lenses, and software. By far the best system I had used up to that time! The multi-shot pixel shift and system integration gave me resolution options and a workflow that was smoother with fewer problems. I was very happy to have an
integrated multi-shot solution that gave me resolution options! But (there's always a but)... it was big AC powered studio only system.
So, along comes the Hasselblad H1 and Imacon 528c that gives me the same multi-shot capabilities in a much smaller package that can travel and even shoot hand held when needed. They also worked well together.
Not too long after, Hasselblad and Imacon get married and eventually have a baby called the H3D series. Hasselblad states their intention to focus on total system integration in order to deliver greater precision and expand system capabilities beyond what hybrid back and body systems can provide. Hey, I'm on board that train, especially with multi-shot included in the mix! Other people freak out! Especially on this forum. But for me (the only person I speak for), it was the right path. And for me, the system has worked well and progressed to my satisfaction
for my needs. I'm not a "super fan" of anything outside of my family and friends, but I'm happy to work with whatever equipment best suits my needs without feeling a need to put something else down.
Now those were the marriages. There were shorter affairs with other products; a Kodak DCS back comes to mind along with others that will go unmentioned.
I'm obviously
subjective when it comes to choosing equipment the works for me. We all are. What I attempt to remain objective about is the broader market that serves other peoples needs as well as my own. What I don't attempt to do is advise companies what they should be doing
for me on a forum. There are plenty of others doing that already and like I said, it wouldn't give me any satisfaction. Besides, I wouldn't want the job of being the advisor (or CEO) of a camera maker. I have more than enough stress in my life already!
As to being a defender, you could make the same scattershot attacks against any medium format DSLR camera maker using some combination of those you aim at Hasselblad (product delays, firmware upgrades needed, variations in lens line age and performance, features or resolutions that another manufacturer has that they don't, not broadcasting what their next products are going to be while they're still selling their current products, etc.). You choose to single out Hasselblad. In this case it was a brand I'm familiar with in a market that I'm familiar with, so I corrected false statements and assumptions and provided my own perspective. I understand that you don't like it and want to lash out at me. That doesn't matter to me. I'm only concerned with how friends, family, and clients view me. As I've alluded to before, I don't have any emotional attachments here.
Now, if the same sort of attacks are focused on another manufacturer and no one else stepped up, I might volunteer my time. I don't care much for false statements or innuendo or other types of attacks that I think are lacking in merit and I'm reasonably observant of what all the manufacturers have done and are currently doing in this space. So... let me know if you think I'm needed for a different perspective on things.