This has been a most interesting thread because of the striking parallels I have seen to the industry I worked in. Man, announcing something as early as Mr. Burgess was something we learned the hard way never to do. (This lesson appears to have been learned here much in the same way).
Let me suggest the following: It's not what Mr. Christen, Mr. Petrunin and Mr. Back are willing to tell us about their optics that makes them great; it's what they're not.
IMO even if the Chinese have the glass, their success in producing high quality optics in the nearterm must depend on how much an optical craftsman - in this case Mr. Back - is willing to spill on the nuances of figuring, coating, spacing, assembling, etc. This intellectual property (our CEO used to call it the "family jewels") cannot be learned just by disassembling someone else's telescope; it has to be learned either through trial and error or by being taught.
How can it be in the best interest of any of these gentlemen to instruct a potential lower cost competitor how to make a scope approaching AP, TEC or TMB quality? They did not get to where they are by being stupid.
Milt Wilcox
ex-guarder of family jewels
Let me suggest the following: It's not what Mr. Christen, Mr. Petrunin and Mr. Back are willing to tell us about their optics that makes them great; it's what they're not.
IMO even if the Chinese have the glass, their success in producing high quality optics in the nearterm must depend on how much an optical craftsman - in this case Mr. Back - is willing to spill on the nuances of figuring, coating, spacing, assembling, etc. This intellectual property (our CEO used to call it the "family jewels") cannot be learned just by disassembling someone else's telescope; it has to be learned either through trial and error or by being taught.
How can it be in the best interest of any of these gentlemen to instruct a potential lower cost competitor how to make a scope approaching AP, TEC or TMB quality? They did not get to where they are by being stupid.
Milt Wilcox
ex-guarder of family jewels