[Leica] Is the TE a zoom?

[hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter)]

A question naturally came up while I was idly wondering what Leica  
could do in the way of transforming the M System if it started giving  
M bodies a zooming viewfinder like the ones that most P&S digicams  
used to have before chimping became the norm (or that some, like my  
wife's Canon G9, still have, with its 6x range optical viewfinder,  
which in an M would accommodate all lenses from 16mm to 90mm...and  
zoom objectives as well):

        Is the Tri-Elmar anything other than a 28-50mm zoom lens with 
detents  
at 28, 35, and 50? The lens diagram seems to indicate that only a  
single element moves during the focal-length change, so unless there's  
something about the design that screws up the focus at intermediate  
positions, it seems to me that it should have a continuous range of  
FLs. Has anyone tried taking photos with the FL ring in intermediate  
positions? What was the result? (I can't find the answer to this on  
either the Leica or the Puts websites.)

Doesn't an M8Z sound logical and natural, given the expense of Leica  
prime lenses on the one hand and the level of optical performance that  
modern technology has brought to zoom optics on the other?

--howard