Originally posted by snake Pentax is simply the K-mount and has been for decades. There's little left. So to hate Ricoh all of a sudden, who seems to be showing initiative, in small ways, is laughable. If anything, Ricoh hasn't even been given a chance yet to fail or prosper with the brand, which is why they should really not care for the old stalwarts of the old era.
They will hate everything and not buy anything. New customers are where it's at.
That's a sweeping and rather ungenerous statement that I don't care to be grouped in. As a generalisation about long-term Pentax users, I don't think it's even close, but you could be forgiven for thinking that if you were a casual reader of some sections of this site. You can't even characterise some of our loudest complainers that way, because we know some of them will buy the new gear when they've had time to reflect. In the long term, of course, you're right about the need to attract new customers, but it's the old ones who have been helping to keep the brand alive in the meantime.
Pentax is also more than the K-mount. The K-mount is the key to its future success, at least in the medium term, but to dismiss the intellectual and human resources involved in its development and propagation is limiting your thinking unnecessarily. Ricoh as a brand has benefitted directly from those resources in the development of the GR. The K-mount is also only part of the story, even if it's a much bigger part than the 645 and Q cameras.