The search for high-quality, large-format CCD imagers during the 1980’s reminds me of a journey across a large and forbidding desert. One starts off full of great expectations of a quick completion, but discouragement sets in around mid-journey as the barrenness of the landscape becomes apparent and the goal on the horizon is shown to be only a mirage. Finally, mountains resolve themselves from the mirages and we take heart in knowing that we seem finally to be making some progress. I think the analogy fits the CCD situation well, starting with the view from the time period 1979–80 and working toward the present.