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Well, I'm sorry, but I don't go with this.  I come from an electron microscope background, and I know that we expected electron microscopes (which, to say the least, are pretty complex pieces of equipment) to last 30 years - and they did.  Philips kept germanium pnp transistors in stock for tens of years after they became obsolete so that their microscopes would keep running.  Optical microscopes, even scanning ones, have much less reason to become obsolete.  My 90-year-old Zeiss 'jug-handle' is still a state-of-the-art microscope in performance terms, in fact it has a more precise focus mechanism than any equivalent Zeiss microscope on the market today.  I could (and did) buy new objectives for it when it was 50 years old.  (I can't now).  

There is absolutely no reason why an optical or confocal microscope from the 80s should not still be working at a pretty good performance level - no reason, that is, apart from greed on the part of the vendors.  They chase the rich labs and neglect the poor ones.  There is nothing in a current confocal microscope which will make it perform better than a 20-year-old one.  (Sure, there are lots of convenience factors in the new ones.)  I would just suggest to purchasers that they look at the parts availability for 10-year-old scopes as a factor in their purchase decision.  

I know many vendors will cry 'foul' at this (my wife does!) but they are wrong, and short-sighted.  Bio-Rad were supplying obsolete boards for their MRC 500 and 600 scopes at 10 times or more of their original price just because that kept microscopes running for a fraction of the cost of a new one.  How is that a bad business model?  Both sides win.  Many customers switched to Bio-Rad just because a 3-year-old microscope from any of their competitors was dead in the water if anything went wrong.  The one thing that sunk Bio-Rad was an unwise reliance on the Cornell multi-photon patent (for which they paid a lot of money) to make their fortune.  This was bad on many grounds.  First, thinking they has a monopoly, they didn't see the need to develop their product.  Second, as always happens, other companies found loopholes and supplied more advanced systems.  Third, eventually a bigger and richer company decided that the simplest solution was to buy the patent holder rather than buy a licence.  

It's not just an economic issue, it's also an environmental one.  I am horrified at how many top-rank scopes are gathering dust in our facility and elsewhere.  The only way forward is for purchasers of high-end systems (I'm talking about the million dollar plus mark) to put into their purchase contracts a requirement for at least 20-year serviceability.  At that level companies will say yes, and that will trickle down to ensure that the smaller fry, without such leverage, will be able to keep their systems running.  

                                                 Guy


Optical Imaging Techniques in Cell Biology
by Guy Cox    CRC Press / Taylor & Francis
     http://www.guycox.com/optical.htm
______________________________________________
Guy Cox, MA, DPhil(Oxon), Honorary Associate, 
Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, 
Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 

Phone +61 2 9351 3176     Fax +61 2 9351 7682
             Mobile 0413 281 861
______________________________________________
      http://www.guycox.net
 


-----Original Message-----
From: Cammer, Michael [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Wednesday, 27 June 2012 11:31 PM
To: Guy Cox
Subject: RE: Biorad MRC1024 MRC600 Scan and Vis boards

Based on a story from someone at BioRad who moved to Zeiss with the buyout, Zeiss didn't provide for saving BioRad parts.  On their own the BioRad employees rented a truck, threw the parts in back, and drove them down to Germany.  

We were BioRad owners in the U.S.  Soon after Zeiss bought BioRad they sent BioRad owners a letter with a phase-out schedule for supporting the BioRad hardware.  We are now two years past the final phase-out date (if I remember correctly).  So we were warned.  

Do Leica, Nikon, Zeiss & Olympus support equipment from the 1990s (or even 2000-2001) anymore?  I can't even get a simple N.A. 0.55 condenser for the Olympus IX70 (well, if I asked on the microscopy bboard maybe I could get a used one).

And computer equipment.  We have an Andor camera, only two years old, with a PCI board but all the new computers come with PCI Express.  This delayed a recent repair by a week when the computer on our TIRF system died.  And Nikon doesn't even provide support for 32 bit computers anymore.

Regardless how Zeiss handled the Biorad buyout, a decade later the technology has changed so much that it's time to let Zeiss off the hook.
________________________________________________________
Michael Cammer, Assistant Research Scientist
Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine
Lab: (212) 263-3208  Cell: (914) 309-3270


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Guy Cox
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 8:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Biorad MRC1024 MRC600 Scan and Vis boards


So how is it that Zeiss, who claim to do their best to support Bio-Rad customers after the takeover, have not bought these boards?  Maybe list members should draw their own conclusions.

                                         Guy

Optical Imaging Techniques in Cell Biology
by Guy Cox    CRC Press / Taylor & Francis
     http://www.guycox.com/optical.htm
______________________________________________
Guy Cox, MA, DPhil(Oxon), Honorary Associate, Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 

Phone +61 2 9351 3176     Fax +61 2 9351 7682
             Mobile 0413 281 861
______________________________________________
      http://www.guycox.net
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of test_message
Sent: Tuesday, 26 June 2012 6:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Biorad MRC1024 MRC600 Scan and Vis boards

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I am the designer and manufacturer of these boards, and I'm clearing out the office prior to retiring. I have an amount of - mainly - ISA Vis boards which will be skipped unless someone is interested. It needs to be commercially neutral, but I'd rather they found a home than landfill.

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