> It seems those that stubbornly cling to archaic thru hole packages are
> those
> that haven't tried surface mount.  Instead of trying it and then realizing
> how easy it is, they try to fight it, which of course they can't.  The
> market has long ago decided DIP IC packages are irrelevant.  They volume
> buyers have already voted with their feet, and the election is long over.
> A
> few hobbyists complaining about lack of DIP packages won't change
> anything.
> They only hurt themselves and look laughable in the process.

While I agree on the practical aspect of SMD, I'm not sure about the this
bit. Maybe the same people who are "hurting themselves and looking laughable
in the process" are those who still have a "charmingly naive but morally
sound" belief that large companies may actually be interested in what they 
the
customers want, rather than what "the ones who spend the most money" want,
who still believe in the ethics and values that got left behind a very long
time ago, with the ever more desperate scramble for money and power.
Certainly in a business sense it works, only sell the products that make the 
most money, but...
I asked why my local supermarket had stopped selling a certain spice, I was 
told it couldn't "justify" the shelf space, so it was replaced with some of 
another more popular one - progress?
Believing companies/people may care about doing the right/decent thing is
not too laughable in my view, it's just (unfortunately) a bit naive. To be 
honest, I prefer this outlook, even if
one may never get rich with it in practice :-)
As far as a "few hobbyists" goes - I think it's probably "most hobbyists" 
and schools, colleges etc. So maybe there is a "reasonable" market out there 
still for DIP.


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