the end of telescope building? I don't agree. (Score 2, Informative)

The availability of cheap telescopes does not mean the end of amateur astronomy, it means the end of amateur telescope-building.

I don't agree. The cost of a high quality telescope is still higher than a home-built telescope of the same quality. If you build a scope yourself, it will cost you a lot of time, but most materials are available at reasonable prices. Plus, building your own telescope gives you total control over the quality and design. With some effort, you will be able to build a telescope which outperforms most commercial telescopes.

You can build a telescope mostly from parts you find at a dumpster: some pieces of wood for the base, a cardboard tube, a piece of glass... Take a look at the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers' website, for example.

People have made high-quality optical paraboloidal mirrors from scrap glass, glass candle holders, trepanned discs cut from CRT-tubes, etcetera. I have ground and polished a 7" glass disc into a shape which surface deviates no more than 40 nanometer from an ideal paraboloid. All this takes is a lot of time and patience, and some basic materials. Remember: the first telescopes were built 300 years ago.

The Amateur Telescope Making community is very much alive, try a google query with these words.

If you're interested in building a telescope, optionally including grinding and polishing your own optics, join the Amateur Telescope Makers mailing list.