Panasonic Fail: Much Needed GH3 Firmware Update Is Coming...Without What's Much Needed

In the last six months I've been putting my GH3 through its paces.  Despite being impressed by things like the battery life, I've been frustrated as hell with a few oversights I was hoping a firmware update would fix. Well, the firmware update is coming...but it isn't the one I was waiting for:

Even before the GH3 was officially released, Panasonic boasted this camera would come equipped with focus peaking.  It didn't.  Over six months later and now we're told there won't be focus peaking on the first firmware update, despite a very vocal community of users pleading for it.  Panasonic blames the GH3's sensor for blocking their ability to implement such a feature, but their excuses aren't helping me do a better job of shooting.  If this feature can be made available on $450 cameras and on Canon cameras thanks to Magic Lantern's firmware enhancements, then it's painfully obvious Panasonic needs to step up their game.

In addition to focus peaking, there is no upcoming fix for the ridiculous disappearing overlay.  This annoyance continues to irritate GH3 users even more than the pointless two touch record button, but despite the outcry, Panasonic isn't listening.  Why?

Panasonic has done so many things right with the GH3 you would think they'd want to take the ball into the endzone for the touchdown.  Nevertheless, if arrogance has taught big name camera manufacturers (like Canon) anything, it's that their users must be given what they want, otherwise the users will simply move on to the next better option.  It would be nice to see the age of the Fanboy die, because the fact is, you're only as good as the word on the street (the street now being all streams of social media).

In one month, my pre-orders for a Blackmagic Production and Pocket Cameras will (fingers crossed) be shipped.  When they do, I'm going to give them a couple of weeks in the field to determine if my GH3 might be better suited to a new home courtesy of Ebay or Craigslist.  The question has to be asked: with three Canon 50Ds capable of shooting 14bit raw video and stills, a 4K video camera with a global shutter, and a pocket camera with its own crazy specs, where would a less-than-perfect GH3 fit in my camera bag?