The situation with Pentax 35mm remains the same as it has always been. The project was cancelled in 2000 when the MZ-D had insurmountable difficulties.

There has been no officially confirmed intention from Pentax or any of its owners to enter the 35mm DSLR market.

I read somewhere that the lifetime of a silicon chip is approximately 10 years, give or take.

I read that some time ago, and I'm not sure if advances in technology are causing it to go up or down, but I would propose that the lifespan of the CCD itself and the associated processing hardware will put a hard limit on the lifespan of the camera. These items are not designed to be replaced, and in any case replacements are unlikely to remain sourcable.

In the old days it was mechanical bits and all you need is a mechanical engineer who'll make you a new sprocket. It might be expensive, but it would always be do-able. You wont be able to do the same thing when your PRIME imaging engine packs up, I doubt even Pentax could supply a replacement at this point even if they wanted to.

same external body and people complain that it's the same camera

new body and people complain that it's a new battery grip

The old grip was good for 3 flagship models, I think that's a pretty impressive run all things considered.

It's the Ricoh Pentax K-3 in the same way that the first of many was the Asahi Pentax.

Pentax as a company name is a blip in the history of our favourite camera system, even my MZ-7 says Asahi Optical on the bottom.

now that's a technical term if ever I heard one!

what are these "Other" camera makers people keep refering to?

Nigel does have a point though, if it can't be nailed down what the "special" qualities of the CCD image are, then when the last K10D clicks it's last click, those qualities will die with it.

true, although the expanded range on the K-5 goes to 102400, so it might equally be expected to be less good at the top end..... either way is speculation until we get some reviews.

Assuming that it works, it removes any concern you might have about an AA Filterless camera for general purpose use.

certainly not something I've heard of before and they're claiming a world first.

If it works, it'll be the best of both worlds