i for one will never buy anything burton. why? because:
there should be oppertunities for new companies. these new companies often have very progressive ideas and designs, and ignoring them would not only hinder the development of the sport, but also take cash from the owners, whom are people who really care about the sport. burton is a HUGE comporation, and a majority of the profits go to ceos, investors, etc, not riders, and DEFINATLY not people who care about my sport.
burton boards are junk. thier bindings are junk. disagree? well, i actually have expierience with ski/board construction, and burton boards are not that great. while they may have fancy technology, in the world of freeriding, the KISS acronym is to live by. burtons are weak boards. ive seen TONS of um break. in fact, the only boards ive ever seen broke were burtons. thier bindings are all plastic, and thier insert patterns are stupid. not only do they make it more difficult to fit bindings, but they eliminate a contact point, which reduces input responsiveness. they also have boards with straight line inserts, so only 2 screws hold the binding on. that is simply retarded, for sooooo many reasons.
burton outerwear, while nice, is not all that good looking, and it is EVERYWHERE. i can make one run anywhere on the mountain without seeing burton outerware. i personally do not want to blend in with the crowd, and there are loads of companies producing just as good of outerwear that looks better and is much less common.
and yes, burton hates skiing.
i am ALL for companies like lib tech getting involved with the sport. because unlike burton, who would be strictly interested in profiting, lib actually has some ingenious ideas and incredibly well built products that they are bringing to us.
and if dont think line will ever build snowboards, go look at the ol prophet 150s. those could easily be mounted as an alpine board.