All their busy efforts culminated in a large stream of creations resolving the problems in the artisans’ workshops. Though it seems that the anonymous, ruling administration had overlooked the fact that in these shops only a very, very tiny amount of the soft metal was used. They spent an even larger quantity of this easy-to-treat metal in many other goods. For them, such a ban was not requested, nor was it feasible as it was with the batteries in their horseless vehicles. Finally they succeeded, and this gave rise to a trade boost to the suppliers of their new crafting tools and to the materials they needed in their workshops. And when this day in the summer of 2006 came to pass, almost all was prepared and almost every workshop was ready for the new electronics age without this harmful metal. But these people were always a restless species as they were watching for the next task – and to no surprise in their small world they began to concentrate on the very, very small things we will never see with the naked eye, called nanos. And again the entire riddle started anew. And if they haven’t found what they were looking for, they will even be researching it today …
Well, so much for this fairy tale about a cute fairy tale world. However, this is not a sweet tale from the Brothers Grimm, but rather a fact to become tangible reality just 250 days away from when you read these lines in mid-November 2005. Assuming that you and your colleagues have done all the necessary homework in preparation on the electronics shop floors, you still cannot lean back and have a long rest, but at least you will not be plagued by headaches about this date. To those who may expect even more exemptions or postponement of the RoHS directive, we can whisper: make no mistakes, and use – at last – those opportunities the Productronica offers at this moment in Munich!
