Hey, relax, you're trying to burst my bubble. I'm a sentimental guy Fortunately ethics is in the eye of the beholder so it only matters if I think it is. Usually when I hear somebody say, "It's just business" it's right before a whole bunch of people get laid off at Christmas time or something.

But now you're opening a whole 'nother can of worms that probably deserves its own thread - "When is a company still the same company?"

Essentially you are saying that anytime I buy anything, I can't narrow my selection by looking at well known brands that I know in the past have produced good products that meet my needs but instead I must go through every available product out there trying to compare each one. That might be workable with semi-custom randoneurs since there aren't that many but for other things it could be quite cumbersome. It might be a good practice but I doubt seriously it's what most people do. I bet most people say, "I bought a Toyota and it was a good car so I'm going to look at Toyotas for my next car". Maybe those people are stupid, lazy, gullible, or whatever but that's what most people do and it's the very reason why companies work so hard to establish and maintain brands in the first place.