Digital film
Wow, I remember back in 1998, me and another photo enthusiast were discussing DSLRs vs digital film. I was holding out on DSLRs until there was a camera that could fit my lenses and was as good as the Canon 500N I had at the time. Turned out I'd be waiting a while, the first one I got (matched the requirements!) was the Canon 20D. Anyway, my friend showed a links on Slashdot and a few papers on "Digital Film", and I had to agree: that was probably a much better fit for the time.
Well, digital film didn't materialize, until now (or rather, soon) hopefully: Tom's guide has an article where they describe Park Hyun Jin's concept:
While in my mind the right time was 1998 and the wrong time is 2011, I would still love a "roll" for my analogue camera, and I might even get a few more old systems for the pure joy of using them