Micro Four Thirds

Olympus and Panasonic has announced an off-shot to the Four Thirds system, called Micro Four Thirds. It has the lens closer to the sensor (by a dramatic 50%), so it won't allow for a mirror system, but will allow for more compact cameras, something which I have wished for often. Quoth the maven:
"... if a digital SLR camera can be designed to exclusively use Live View for shooting, the mirror box is no longer necessary and the camera can be designed with the kind of slim profile previously considered impossible, without compromising the high picture quality."

And I've also said that I consider using the LCD for framing to be in some ways superior to traditional viewfinders, and since omitting those will save money, bulk, and weight, I think this is very promising.

Of course the thing is that it will require all new lenses, new camera bodies, and possibly new sensors, so it may be a while before this pays off.

The reason the original Four Thirds system had a longer distance between lens and sensor was partly to make room for the mirror, but also because sensors demand a light entry angle pretty close to 90 degrees. But it seems they are finally making inroads on helping this problem.
Nut-shelling and press release post.

Of course a question might be: how many compact-camera users need or want exchangeable lenses?
And another: can they make the autofocus fast enough? SLR cameras have fast autofocus because they use "phase detection" technology. Compact cameras, and Micro Four Thirds ones, have to use "contrast measurement", which uses the image-forming sensor itself and which so far has been rather slower (though it's picking up a little in recent models).

Wouter said:
I personally would love to have a compact camera with interchangeable lenses. Hopefully these cameras will be equally sized as my Ricoh GX200.
I can be perfectly happy with the AF too. My compact camera is fast enough for me.

eolake said:
Yes, unless they really mess up, this should produce highly interesting cameras for the travel, street, hiking, and wilderness photographers. As well as just anybody who like good quality pictures but don't feel like having a separate bag for their camera.

I think though that they will be larger than your Ricoh, since the sensor is much larger.