in think ill always have my ep1 , i got the gf1 at release but continued with the ep1...[love the IS] and im sure ill be using it , owning it long after im learning the pleasures of the fujifilm x 100 and its sucessors[ you know the interchangable lens fujifilm that will follow and be the  defacto digital contax g that sadly never was, and so many dreamed of]

   in think ill always have my ep1 , i got the gf1 at release but continued with the ep1...[love the IS] and im sure ill be using it , owning it long after im learning the pleasures of the fujifilm x 100 and its sucessors[ you know the interchangable lens fujifilm that will follow and be the  defacto digital contax g that sadly never was, and so many dreamed of]

Paul, how long do you think the E-P1 will hold up--assuming it is treated gently, etc. etc? It's my second digital camera (in the last two years) so I have no experience with them over time. Do these things basically quit after 3-5 years (max) like a laptop computer?  You are definitely getting the x100--even though it is a fixed lens camera?

Mark

traveller,
I received the G1 yesterday... took about 75 shots of my son at 1250 ISO.  Autofocus was spot-on, EVF was stellar, pictures looked horrible.  The high ISO image quality was so far behind my e-P1, I'm not planning on keeping the G1.  It's already back in the box.
So where does that leave me?  Well, I'm going to follow your advice and stick with the e-P1.  I love the camera for all the same reasons that made me purchase it in the first place... small size, retro styling, killer IQ.  So the autofocus is a little slow and there's no viewfinder.  After my disappointment with the G1, these are things I can live with. 
Instead, I'm going to focus on building a solid collection of fast primes (panny 14mm, 20mm, and 45mm). 
Thanks again for the insight...

im sure it will last 20 years or more if treated with respect .... the quesion> will you want to shoot with it... will a battery be available? will we still be using sd cards? will you have a computer with the interface and software and ports to make it enjoyable rather than a pain and a voyage to technologys graveyard ?

consider how much digital cameras have changed in just the last 10 years
and how much more resolution and quality is available now

o t o h ,digital cameras like the ep1 have much maturity now and very good image quality as well , by todays standards , but who can say what they will seem against tommorrows?

i would love to think ill be using mine even as it will be many generations removed from the cutting edge

Thanks for a thoughtful answer: "technology's graveyard," yes. I have a tendency to forget that digital technology is still speeding ahead at breakneck speed. Read recently that the personal computer sales are down, perhaps because the new technologies i-pad/i-phone make the computer obsolete for many users. Also, there is a technique by which light once gathered can be split into three streams, digitally analyzed and then put back together again in the form of an image (?) which might be utilized in the cameras of the future. That would be a pretty radical break with camera technology of today, it seems to me (without really understanding why or knowing how).

What I can say is that up to this point digital technology has been applied as an extension of analog cameras: copying the form, borrowing the functions, utilizing mirrors and even using the measurements invented by Oscar Barrack. On the one hand, m43 is seen as an advance from this by recognizing that electronics eliminates the need for a mirror, but when you think about it the real charm of these cameras is the way they connect the user directly with the past by extending the capacity to use old lenses.  This has plunged many of us directly into the camera's history for both analytical and antiquarian purposes. The possibility of considering old lenses means the need to learn about them, and in the process bringing back to life past chapters of photography and the camera assumed to be dead and buried. It is has been like taking an excursion in technology's graveyard, going along on an archaeological dig. Thank you Olympus, thank you Panasonic--and thank you most importantly to all the thousands who researched lenses and cameras of the past and posted their findings.