Silver photography is not dead yet

Since January 2005 I'm getting more and more into photography. At first I experimented with my digital camera, but I quickly felt the limitation of this all-automated stuff...push buttons device are easy but can also be very frustrating (some people could do an analogy with some OS developped in Redmont, but this isn't my style..). I quiclky switched to black and white with a good old Pratika camera. I enventually got myself a Canon EOS 33V along with a Tokina zoom 28-70 f2.8 and I realize I really got good value for my money (this zoom is such a steal for less than 300 euro!)
Of course, I considered going for a digital camera, but considering the price for a good digital DSLR and all the problems encountered to get decent prints at home or worse -at a minilab- I prefered staying on the safe side with silver photography. Sure it's a lot of work and you don't get to see everything immediatly right after you shot it, but on the other hand, it's really lots of fun and the results are quickly encouraging.
It might seem odd to some of the readers to start shooting film in 2005, when major industry players such as Kodak and Ilford have discontinued ranges of silver photography related products.The digital photography market is certainly a very lucrative business and silver photography (especially B&W) is becoming more of a niche market. Anyway, in a world were digital images (using 'images' and not 'photography' on purpose) have become common place, quality B&W pictures get the goods, especially among youngsters. The prophets announcing the death of analog photographys should look at history and read about the announced death of radio when TV arrived, death of theatre when cinema appeared..
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti digital (it would be quite ironic), I really think both techniques can coexist.If you feel like it, please review my pictures posted on flickr.
PS:The internet also carries some quality information regarding silver photography, both on the technical and artistic side. Digital Truth is an excellent reference for those who are brave enough develop film at home, and Photosig is a great place where you can critique other's people work and post your own pics for review.