Rick wrote:
Oh, sorry scotpens, can't agree with that.  I saw OHMSS in the theater when it was brand-new, and when the sequence ended and Lazenby delivered that line to the camera there was a huge laugh and a burst of applause from the audience.  

To me it was, first, a clever and graceful way of saying, "Okay, we all know Sean Connery is not here, let's just get past it."  And, secondly, it's a great joke. I thought then, and think now, that it was a brilliant way to start the movie and to introduce the new Bond.
Well, for me, it was a stupid and unnecessary line that took me completely out of the movie. No winking self-references were needed when a new actor took over the role of Tarzan, or Charlie Chan, or Darrin on Bewitched.

YMMV.