Ya, I don't buy the blame falling on the customers shoulders. And this is from someone who had not traditionally shot a lot of kodak. Ignoring my recent discovery, then hoarding of efke emulsions, I have traditionally been an ilford man. The funny thing is that it is not that I thought kodak was crap or more expensive. I think I just felt that ilford just spoke to me more as a bw enthusiast. Its not that is did not shoot any kodak, I shot Kodachrome - at times like a madman. I always thought that even back in the day (70s - 80s) that kodak really did not care about black and white film. Now maybe my then twenty year old ego was better manipulated by ilford's marketing, but to me, b&w felt peripheral to kodak even then. I took their pursuing of APS, Disk, and picture CD (etc) all as it getting distracted from their core values. I don't fully blame them, as I understand that they were in different position than a company like Ilford. Ilford always was pretty small and a specialty company compared to a mainstream company such Kodak. It is a lot harder to change the direction of a big ship. But like a lot of you I remember shaking my head at some decisions kodak made back then that I am still shaking head them. (And I still don't exactly know what I would have done if I was CEO.)