[rescue] Slightly OT: Bad Cap Saga

[Curious George]

--- On Sun, 8/17/08, der Mouse <mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG> wrote:

> > I know there is talk of "capacitor plague" and some legend about
> > industrial espionage gone wrong, etc.  [...]  But, the variety of
> > manufacturers that I have been finding really has me doubting that --
> > did *10* companies share this stolen secret?
> 
> The "industrial espionage gone wrong" applied not
> to a consumer
> electronics maker, but to a capacitor maker.  The resulting
> caps were
> sold to _everybody_, so, yes, it's not a bit surprising
> to see ten
> different brands, or even ten different assembly houses,
> affected.

Perhaps I was not clear.  I am seeing *capacitors* with
10 (or more) different "brands" -- the number of different
"equipment manufacturers is far more than that!

So, my comment is:

"Did capacitor manufacturer A 'steal' a formulation, *share* that
stolen secret with 9+ of *their* competitors -- capacitor manufacturers
B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J -- who, in sum, sold those 10 different
*brands* of capacitors (Susumi, Luxon, Hermei, Samxon, Su'scon, etc.)
to M different board houses working for N different 'consumer
equipment manufacturers' producing P different affected products..."

I'd be far more likely to buy the story if all of the "bad" caps
were from "Company A" (regardless of how many different OEM's
ended up *using* them)...