In a recent article in The Economist you will read that the idea “less is more” is gaining ground in the technology industry. The fact that Microsoft, famous for its overloaded products, lost first place to Apple, famous for simple and elegant products is an important sign. Consumer electronics, including camera manufacturers are slaves to new-featuritis and this era is beginning to end. I use a word processor with an option for full-screen mode without any distractions, just the old-fashioned green screen with white figures. But not only the industry is feature-obsessed, the consumers have this perspective too. I have argued for several years that digital cameras should become simpler and processing more easier to emulate the chemical film processing. I have often remarked that the true mark of genius is simplicity of design and a focused approach to a few well-defined goals. Classical cameras from the seventies have these characteristics and true Leica cameras still exhibit this philosophy. The fact that the feature-laden X1 is seen by Leica as a real Leica camera did ring alarm bells at least with me. Is Leica forgetting its true DNA? Are they losing their option to become the heir of Apple in the photographic world? The S2 shows that Leica has the knack and guts to design a simple camera that only does one thing very good: make photographic pictures. The M9 in my view (and I remarked this in my review of that camera) could benefit by a reduction of software options and an optimization of the really important features for photographic practice. You could even think of a digital M3 with an upgraded rangefinder and a handful of lenses of breathtaking performance.
Many readers and visitors of my blog/website seem to agree with my view that taking pictures is more valuable that comparing and assessing features. daily I get messages from Leica users who remark that they stop with visiting sites and forums where you find endless comparisons and discussions about what is best and continue taking pictures which is more joy and generates more pleasure.
I get signals that the use of film is a bit growing and that the demise of the wet darkroom at least is slowing down. Even Mike Johnston is thinking about writing a text about the pleasure of the wet darkroom.

Testing of lenses and cameras is necessary to set true benchmarks and help prospective buyers to make a good choice. But testing becomes totally confusing when combined with the new-featuritis of current consumer electronics.

I get remarkably many mails from M8 users who stop their self-tormenting in thinking that they have an inferior camera (the power of myth-making in modern culture is astounding!), based on reading the many blogs and forums and start enjoying the act of photography. One should really stop with rating and ranking cameras and assume that a camera whose rating, based on a simple procedure, is not in the top-ten is not good. The factual results and the joy in using the camera and viewing and appreciating the results are the true arbiters.

The M8 is now four years old and the M9 is one year old. If we accept the new-featuritis ideology both cameras are obsolete. A better perspective would be that both cameras deliver pictures of excellent quality, way beyond what photographers only some years ago thought feasible.
The former president of the US, Bill Clinton is famous for the remark: it is the economy stupid. I would paraphrase with: It is the content stupid!
Photographs are about content and are not meant to be demonstrations of technological prowess or the demonstration of the effect of yet another new feature.
It would be nice and good for our economy and culture if we would start to appreciate the merits of minimalism in technology and the joy of taking pictures with simple and elegant equipment.