Firmware Upgrades For Everything 285
eggoeater writes "Forbes Magazine has an article discussing how more portable electronics are not only suggesting firmware upgrades, but requiring them in order to get all the features! Apparently the new Lyra A/V Jukebox will sometimes display a message stating that 'this feature will be available in future upgrades.' In addition, the article states that some patches are difficult and dangerous depending on the component. Some cell phone patches require a proprietary cable ($25) that will then wipe out your phone book. This raises concerns over alienating users that aren't tech-savvy and how this could affect perceptions of portable electronics as a whole."
Dude, where's my shares? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, I am cynical.
Let's start the discussion by raising the concern that if the majority of users aren't tech savvy and society is dominated by technology, doesn't this sound like a new dark age? History has shown that when the peasant mass is uneducated, the church and monarchy rule. Are we not heading in this direction again? Technology being the new "power"? How long until the masses catch up and stop being screwed?
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:3, Interesting)
No, that concept is called "vaporware," and in general, it's the company that pays the price.
1) Announce Product with features X, Y and Z
2) Ship Product with feature X
3) ???
4) Go bankrupt.
About the only industry where people have tolerated the missing Step 3 ("Make people pay, then pay again for the features they wanted in the first place") is MMORPGs. I don't think it's going to work with hardware.
Missing step 3... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hopefully that staves off 4 for a while.
Worked for TiVo, sort of.
Nuh-uh (Score:5, Funny)
1) Announce Product with features X, Y and Z
2) Ship Product with feature X
3) ???
4) Go bankrupt.
Nope. Look at this way. Product is loss leader, cable and other bits to upgrade are Profit.
Go on, doubt me, I dare you.
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:5, Insightful)
When corporations are held criminally liable for this sort of deceit. Don't hold your breath.(I too am cynical;)
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:4, Interesting)
There's also the issue of how to send a corporation to prison. Jail all the employees? (Is the front-desk receptionist responsible for a product defect?) Or just those responsible? (Of course, every product has an engineering team, etc. etc.) If we're punishing a corporation for an incomplete product, how do we define "incomplete"?
Yes, the ignorant masses are being duped by the marketing dollars of large corporations. This has happened throughout history (ask any woman if Victoria's Secret underwear is actually comfortable), and it's not likely to stop.
I've got to admit that I'm a bit awed at the sheer volume of ire aroused about firmware upgrades. Aren't there better things to be angry about?
-- Hamster
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:4, Insightful)
False advertising.
There's also the issue of how to send a corporation to prison.
Pressing charges against the board members and advertising agents would be a start.
Yes, the ignorant masses are being duped by the marketing dollars of large corporations. This has happened throughout history (ask any woman if Victoria's Secret underwear is actually comfortable), and it's not likely to stop.
Doh! I've been trolled!
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:3, Informative)
Which advertising agents? I freelance to a marketing firm who works with the salespeople for a particular gadget. Who's liable?
Marketing is a fact of life. Without it, companies have to wait for consumers to come to them. No one has that much time or money. And without that, no gadgets.
It's kind of like that line from from "The Right Stuff": What makes this spaceship go up? Fund
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree, however my point was that they were selling features that did not currently (and may never) exist. This is not a performance issue, this is snake oil.
Which advertising agents? I freelance to a marketing firm who works with the salespeople for a particular gadget. Who's liable?
Another poster had what I consider to be a great idea. Professional engineers, architects,
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:3, Funny)
He ment on WOMEN.
Criminal Act? (Score:3, Interesting)
However, advertising that a product does X Y and Z, when it only does X is a form of what we call "Fraud" specifically "False Advertising" that *is* a crime [state.mo.us] most places.
I do however agree that companies get blamed more than they should because more often than not problems people have with products are from assumptions they've made about the product without investigating to see if their assumptions prove true.
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, start giving advertising the legal weight of a contract. If I buy a product which says "Supports Feature X" only to find out that it doesn't support feature X out of the box, I can go to small-claims court and attempt to recover whatever portion of the purchase price I feel feature X was worth.
There's also the issue of how to send a corporation to prison.
That's a very tough issue. Assigning guilt is going to be very hard to to in many cases. If you fine the company into oblivion, you are going to hurt many of the companies employees, customers, and suppliers who had nothing to due with the problem. Here's my thought: Doctors, Lawyers, Professional Engineers, and may others can be sued for malpractice if they perform their job in an incompetant or illegal manner. I think we need the concept of a Professional Manager. If you fail to keep your employees within the law, you can be held responsible. Extend the liability all the way to the board of directors. To extend the previous example, if a company has a habit of listing "Supports Feature X" on the box without actually supporting feature X, let the FTC (or their equivalants) go after the company. Determine who approved the working "Supports Feature X", and divide the fines equally among the approvers manager, the manager's manager,
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:5, Insightful)
corporate planners are intentionally breaking their own products just to mess with you, but the fact is that right now consumers want whiz-bang products that come with every feature known to mankind, and they want them last Tuesday. There is no magic formula to get everything they want so the features come out but often with a bunch of bugs.
So how do you as an individual get around this? Easy, instead of rushing in to buy something and then whining about it later, read some objective reviews of the products you buy, talk to people (either in the real world or online) about them, and lastly take all the advertising you see with a grain of salt.
Yes I am realistic.
Yes I do eat meat.
Definition of evil (Score:5, Insightful)
If by evil you mean allow others to die so they can profit, then a slightly smaller number are evil.
The point is, there is some definition of "evil" for which a lot (if not most) corporations are evil.
My definition is simple: if a corporation is willing to harm others in its pursuit of profit, it is evil. By this definition, quite a few are evil. Since this is condoned (and encouraged!) by our government, it seems to get worse.
Now, you can argue that corporations don't make these decisions, individuals do, but that is simply prevarication. Groups of people will do things indivduals will not; this makes the group culpable. (Now, defining the individuals within the group may be difficult.)
So how do you as an individual get around this? Easy, instead of rushing in to buy something and then whining about it later, read some objective reviews of the products you buy, talk to people (either in the real world or online) about them, and lastly take all the advertising you see with a grain of salt.
This is excellent advice, and I certainly agree with it; but that doesn't change the economic reality that sometimes, there is only Hobson's Choice, at best. In some areas, if you want phone service, you must use the single provider in your area. This is just one example among many.
Further, consider how people have been reduced to "consumers." Between that and, "worker," that is our role in society-- to work, and to consume. Who profits most from this? I'll bet you dollars to donuts (Mmmmm.... Krispie Kreme....) it isn't the individual.
I don't take exception to your arguments. I take exception to the reference to the "uninformed opinions" so popluar here on
Just because you are right about unthinking consumerism driving shoddy workmanship in the electronic gadgets sector does not negate the evil nature of many corporations. Enron did not happen in a void.
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:5, Interesting)
Shipping vapor with promises is the best way to make profits in the long term. People have short memories. At least enough of them do. The ones who don't ship until they have all the features they promised will suffer in the marketplace against those who ship with vapor, and the fact that there's a handful of discriminating consumers out there won't change that.
The answer, then, is sensible regulation, so that even those corporations who would act ethically do not work under a competitive disadvantage against the others. One of these sensible regulations would be insisting that any manufacturer that ships a product with extensible functionality, when that functionality is not yet available, be committed to providing that functionality for free *if the product was marketed with that extensible functionality as a differentiator*. No more bait and switch.
It's why we have regulation in, for example, the food industry - we don't want a situation where producers are "playing chicken" with standards in order to reduce costs. Consumers could very well drive down the quality of food that way by being too willing to take risks in order to save money: I'd rather the law of supply and demand *not* work so well in that case.
This is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
In fact, it's the textbook study of why society needs laws, and why they have to be applied. Because otherwise what happens is that the crooks create a pressure on everyone else to be a crook too.
E.g., if you let some merchants sell contraband or counterfeit goods, it will create a pressure on the other merchants to start selling contraband or counterfeit too. Otherwise their prices won't be competitive. So everyone starts trying to outdo the others in how much of their merchandise is from dubious sources.
The same happens here. Once a company is allowed to cut costs by shipping non-functional products, it just puts a pressure on everyone else to do the same thing. Because otherwise someone who actually spends the time to finish and thoroughly debug a product, can't compete with the snake oil peddlers on either price or time to market. So everyone starts trying to outdo the others on cutting down quality.
That kind of thing doesn't go away by itself. Never did, never will. You need a legal system to stop it.
And saying that everyone needs to waste countless hours of their life trying to avoid getting screwed is, if you'll pardon my saying so, completely idiotic. It's as idiotic as saying that your only recourse to spam should be sorting your mails yourself by hand.
There are laws and courts of law for this kind of thing. If I sell you a house which isn't even built yet, you'd sue the pants off me. If I sell you a car, except what I can give you is just two wheels and a spoiler, you'd sue the pants of me. No "EULA" will let me say it's OK to shaft you, in any other industry.
It's time the same applied to software too. (Yes, including firmware.)
Because this kind of generalized thievery and snake oil peddling is already too high a cost for society as a whole. Not only hundred billions of dollars per year are lost to basically legalized scamming in this industry. We're also talking billions of hours total shaved off people's lives, where they have to work around bugs or to read reviews to make sure their new product will even work at all.
Those hours by themselves are too high a cost.
A murderer can be put to death for... what? Shortening someone's life by, say, 20 years? That's approximately 20 * 365 * 24 = 175,200 hours.
Well, these scammers cost society as a whole a thousand times more hours off everyone's lives. Each year.
Now I'm not asking to actually give those marketroids a death by firing squad. But throwing some of them in state jails would be a damn good start.
Either way, again: history has shown again and again that this kind of thing needs laws. And it needs them actually applied.
Re:This is BS (Score:3, Insightful)
You mention inner city blacks. Well, how much better would they be _without_ government intervention? Would everyone spontaneously donate some of their money so that the less fortunate can get wellfare? Would everyone spontaneously donate some of their money for public schools? (However badly funded those schools may be, it's still bette
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:5, Funny)
Historically speaking it would be about 750 years from now. System administration.. it's the new priesthood! Bow down lusers and pay homage to the messiah Simon.
BLUE BLUE GREEN RED BLUE YELLOW (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dude, where's my shares? (Score:3, Insightful)
What's your point? Where is it written that this compromise must be made if you're to have upgradeable firmware? It just makes updates possible after a product has shipped. There's nothing inherently bad about that.
Products that support and responsibly apply upgradeable firmware capabilities are better in every way. Products that ship early with buggy firmware "because they can" will still suck, just like there are sucky products that do
You know what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Even mobo manufactures say to upgrade only if the update fixes a specific problem you are having.
Re:You know what? (Score:4, Informative)
Mobo manufacturers say that because a failed upgrade (say, due to a power failure) will leave you with a product needing a very expensive repair -- you don't get a second chance at upgrading. Most other products, if an upgrade fails, you can try again until it succeeds.
Re:You know what? (Score:5, Informative)
I must say Mac users have been doing firmware updates for a long while now, and I don't hear many of them screaming about toasted computers. It is mainly the conception that is has to be hard and difficult to do. ASUS has a nice little utility to update its motherboards.
Does the power really go out that often around you that a 15 second process risks failure? If so, buy some batteries and a generator. Don't do it in a rain storm. My internet gateway shows 120 days since my last power failure. People throw $5 away on a hand of blackjack with worse odds.
Re:You know what? (Score:2)
If a product doesn't ship with the advertised features, its a good chance that the company simply didn't have the money to put them in their in the correct time frame. Who's to say, then, that the company has the money to implement them at all.
I'm sure the hope is that they can release to generate some revenue. However, when the user gets their hands on a shoddy product, it doesn't take long for negative reviews to cr
Re:You know what? (Score:5, Interesting)
They're just thinking ahead (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They're just thinking ahead (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe they will get the idea and make a basic device with add on (firmware?) products which can't break the core device by updating.
The alternative is security/safety updates for phones, microwaves etc, requiring more and more processing power and getting locked into an upgrade cycle, like people have been in with their PC's for decades.
I see a business emerging! (Score:5, Insightful)
Or let the luddites live without the 'features'. Face it, that's why we became techies in the first place, to profit from everyone else's technophobia.
Re:I see a business emerging! (Score:5, Interesting)
I take it you decided to get into technology during the bubble.
I, and many people I know, would be very happy if technology was easier to use for the average user.
Re:I see a business emerging! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I see a business emerging! (Score:2)
for 'normal people' it sometimes is also standard practice to haul the computer up to the computer shop for gfx card installation, or to get rid of those pesky popups that are making doing spreadsheets impossible.
Slow down (Score:5, Insightful)
and maybe you would get it right without needing to "update/mess about with" every 3months
the consumer is not your beta tester
Re:Slow down (Score:4, Insightful)
Bah .. (Score:5, Insightful)
Frankly, if I'm being forced to pay $25 for a cable to do necessary upgrades, you're going to alienate me whether I'm tech savvy or not. Especially if the 'unavailable' features were advertised as part of the item in question.
Re:Bah .. (Score:5, Insightful)
This brings me to another point. Do not ever purchase contracts for a cell phone or anything from those in mall third parties. That is trouble waiting to happen. Go to a retail store and make sure the contract you are signing is with Cingular/Verizon, etc, not "JoesCellphones for Verizon".
Re:Bah .. (Score:4, Informative)
Either way though; if something is advertised on the box or in the specifications, and doesn't have that functionality the -first- time I try to go use it, I'm already alienated. If that same functionality requires a hassle to get working, I'm not just alienated, I'm pissed right off.
Kinda sad, really... (Score:5, Interesting)
Crap (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Crap (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe because it would be the last time anyone, anywhere, ever bought a product from such a company.
A better idea is to provide enough real features to add credibility to the vapor in order to string the consumer along an endless line of upgrades and replacements. For a great example of this tactic, check out any company at all.
Re:Crap (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly. When the first Creative Jukeboxes came out, before the iPod, a big selling point was that they were firmware upgradeable. Right on the box it promised that they would update it to play "all future digital music formats" but it still only plays MP3 and WMA files. If you ask them when they are coding firmware to play Ogg Vorbis files they say "We do not support other music formats." If you point out they promised to support all future formats, they say "I already said, we do not support other formats" and then stop responding.
I'll never buy a Creative product again, because they lied about their features in order to sell them.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:release now, patch later... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:release now, patch later... (Score:4, Informative)
I bought the game for about $50 for my brother. However, it mostly works, if you can deal with the problematic sound bug, which freezes everything at random, bad camera control using the mouse, and the inability to properly set custom keys to stick, among other things....and don't get me started with the Macally Shock II game pad I can't seem to configure to work right for me! (though I think that's Macally's fault)
I'm not very happy with feral (http://www.feral.co.uk)
Halo is another one, where if you use the 1.0 version for mac, and get the health pack, your screen goes completely black for like 10 seconds. Those could be the crucial 10 seconds in which you could just die if the Covenant is chasing after you, and you just stepped in their path because you couldnt see where you are going. I think this has been fixed now, but it was an annoying thing through the game.
Cro-Mag Rally (another mac game) had similar problems on Mac OS X. I even e-mailed the developer and didn't get a very encouraging response. Can't remember what it was or the exact tone...(kind of hard to note the tone through e-mail)
Maybe my problem is that I'm on the mac trying to play games, but from the article this seems to be the trend. I can't remember what other games I've had this problem with but I've gotten into the habit of looking for updates for games as soon as I get them. It fustrates me when it takes a long time for updates to come along.
This is specially fustrating when some games sell at a higher price for a Mac version versus the PC version...
Thank you for reading my rant
Haven't had a problem with firmware updates yet. (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know why anybody would seek a non-upgradable piece of hardware over an upgradable piece of hardware. New features through firmware updates should be quite welcome to everybody who can follow the simple precautions necessary to update.
Re:Haven't had a problem with firmware updates yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that the customer has in most cases already paid for these features. At that point, who is to say these "features" won't turn into vaporware.
Trust and the missing feature. (Score:5, Insightful)
Likewise with firmware in consumer goods. I don't trust them - if it's not there when I buy, I suspect they'll ship it in a "deluxe" version before they let me upgrade my DVD player/blender/mp3 player to get the same feature.
a favorite Sony technique (Score:2, Informative)
Sure enough, a few weeks later the upgrade came out--in the form of a newer model (N-760). The upgraded OS was the only appreciable difference. A firmware update for the 710 never appeared. I will never again trust a promise of forthcoming features, at least not
As an engineer in the electronics industry... (Score:5, Interesting)
It sucks, but that's the way it is. Your product is either first, or it needs to be 10 times better than the other guy's product.
Re:As an engineer in the electronics industry... (Score:3, Insightful)
You bring out the greatest product in the world in a bad time period, say right after christmas rather than before, then your target group has already spent their money and won't really be interested in any sort of mass spending for a while to come, by which point your product will be old and
Re:As an engineer in the electronics industry... (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is, not everyone can be great; most people are just average. Same goes for organizations; most are just going to be average (read: crappy), so they don't really have a hope of putting out a 10x better product. So instead they go for time-to-market and try to make more money that way.
The second part of the problem is with consumers: rather than wait around for the 10x better product, they line up to buy the first product out the gate, no matter how crappy it is. The companies with crappy products have figured this out, and now they're exploiting it.
What can we do about this? Almost nothing. Unless you can invent a mind-control device that telepathically reprograms everyone in society to be careful consumers who demand the highest in quality, we're pretty much stuck with our fellow citizens being shortsighted idiots. Individually, all we can do is learn from their mistakes, and be very careful about our purchases. Exercise caution and patience; don't buy anything on a whim, or without careful research for anything over $50 or $100. And don't become an "early adopter" of anything. By doing this, you'll end up saving yourself a lot of time and money in the long run.
Re:As an engineer in the electronics industry... (Score:3, Funny)
future upgrades? (Score:2)
Ahhh.... (Score:5, Funny)
This generations "Feature Will Be Available in future firmware upgrades" is really starting to sound like last generations "The Check is in the mail".
Not at all surprising. (Score:5, Funny)
Apparently the new Lyra A/V Jukebox will sometimes display a message stating that 'this feature will be available in future upgrades.'
I think that this is happening because vendors have determined it is better, from a marketing stand-point, to got a half-done product first to market and finish it later than it is to bring a complete product where the competition already has gained a user-base.
Thankfully, this is more difficult other industries, like automobiles. But as electronics take over more of our lives, I would not be at all surprised to see this happen in relatively strange places. I can see: "If you would like your SVT Mustang to travel over 50 MPH, please downlaod the latest firmware from ford.com."
Re:Not at all surprising. (Score:2)
Most people aren't aware, but a lot of components in cars change year-to-year, even on what is ostensibly the same "model". It isn't major stuff, but a fuel pump, for example, can be obtained from a different vendor for a lesser price, and that's just smart business.
Anyway, in the '98 or '99 model year (I can't remember which), the SVT mustang was "firmware updated", so to speak. A bunch of people who were buying them were noticing that the performance wasn't nea
Alienating Users? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Alienating Users? (Score:5, Interesting)
I especially enjoy the sales verbage..."The importance of PDAs is growing every day and it is quite likely that these devices will soon become a target for new virus attacks." In other words, "there's currently nothing for the this product to do, but if it ever does become worthwhile, it'll do it after you download something else." Begs the question: why not wait until it becomes an issue, THEN download it? Seems you'd save some money that way, eh?
Oh, and the cost? $20 for a year of nothing. Tell you what, guys...if you're in the market for PDA antivirus protection, I'll beat that price. I'll do nothing for only $10 a year.
Hold on a sec... (Score:5, Funny)
the average (Score:5, Insightful)
many of us on
When a feature in your blender won't work becasue of a bug, people will stop buying your blender. It should just work without the user knowing anything about the inner workings.
Re:the average (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps that fact people who are not technologically literate a
Class action suit, anyone? (Score:2, Interesting)
make firmware open source (Score:2, Informative)
Research it. (Score:5, Interesting)
None of us are forced into these purchases, with the exception of gift items. And if you recieved a techie gift, do the research before opening the package-you can stil return it, and I just recently found myself wishing I had when I recieved an mp3 player for christmas.
Guffaws aside, companies should theoretically respect users more when people refuse to buy badly implemented products.
Re:Research it. (Score:2, Insightful)
This is when people have an onus to go out and buy some crap to give you, and you have the onus to do the same for them, before you can even visit for tea.
And, of course, the "present" is usually presented personally, and its kinda in bad taste to not open it up and fawn over it for a while. I mean, you don't really wanna hurt their feelings after they went through all that mad rush to get it for you do you? Its not like you personally have had to exper
Re: (Score:2)
Further marketshare gains for Microsoft? (Score:5, Interesting)
Soon a new microwave oven will require Windows and an Internet connection. ARGH!
Are there any OSS projects or standards creation efforts for universal, OS-independent, product firmware updaters?
Re:Further marketshare gains for Microsoft? (Score:3, Funny)
Not so! The manufacturer of my new microwave oven makes firmware upgrades available for download on their Web site. You grab the firmware and burn it to a standard ISO filesystem. Then you put the CD-R into the microwave and zap it for exactly three minutes. You can tell the upgrade is taking place because of the flashing lights. And then, voila! Your microwave is upgraded with new features. The latest patch for my model upgr
mac support (Score:2)
Alien Nation of Non-Tech Savvy Users (Score:5, Interesting)
Now I've found my telescope (Meade ETX-125AC) Autostar computer can be upgraded, but with a special cable for my purchasing pleasure. Hm.
Market for upgrade cable spec? (Score:2)
Is there a market for including a "universal" firmware upgrade access port, coupled with a cable that connects to a PC's serial port?
Some newer laptops lack serial ports, so maybe something like USB could be used?
Helevius
Why is this a problem? (Score:2)
There isn't a monopoly on portable devices -- consumers are free to vote with their wallets. And they will. Capitalism at work, isn't it great?
Re:Why is this a problem? (Score:2, Insightful)
Although the article has a negative spin on the art of upgrading, I can see lots of positive aspects as well: new formats emerge could well be addressed with upgrades, security holes could be filled, etc. However, the device *must* do it well!
This trend started with wireless NICs (Score:5, Insightful)
For example: I spent a day and a half trying to upgrade the firmware on an otherwise useless SMC "PCI" NIC, the SMC EZ Connect 802.11b 2602W v.1 [smc.com], not to be confused with the v.2 or v.3 models with completely different chipsets. I say "PCI" because the NIC is actually the 2632W v.1 PCMCIA NIC in a PLX "riser."
Thanks only to Jun Sun's mini-HOWTO [junsun.net] and "unofficial" firmware caches on the Web, I was able to upgrade the station firmware. Unfortunately, this did not result in the features I needed.
If vendors begin requiring consumers to flash firmware regularly, it needs to come out of the "underground" and be explained by the vendors. I'd also like to see DOS boot-disk-based firmware upgrade tools, like Dell's BIOS flash disks. I didn't like turning to Windows to run SMC's update program. (Linux and DOS attempts failed with this particular NIC.)
Thanks to the openap-ct [collegeterrace.net] project's Linux floppy I was able to use prism2_srec to flash a different NIC, though.
Helevius
Download implies upload (Score:5, Insightful)
Overlooked in this is that when you connect your product to the 'net to download new firmware, the product could have the ability to be able to upload as well. Who knows what the firmware in your stereo, or TV may report back about your use?
This should be illegal! (Score:5, Interesting)
Forbes Trolls (Score:2)
Thanks for your time.
Re:Forbes Trolls (Score:2)
1. Forbes releases flaimbait
2. someone at Forbes notifies Slashdot via "submit story"
3. ???
4. profit.
Firmware Updater Service (Score:5, Interesting)
What if there were some kind of a standardized firmware upgrade protocol (kind of like the windows automatic updater service-thingy) that kept track of your devices, notified you when updates were available, and flashed the updates for you?
End user no longer has to be very savvy, but rather just has to have the firmware updater software installed. Updater reaches out to product web services (provided by manufacturers) for each product it is aware of, and checks for updates, and downloads 'em.
Network devices (such as wireless routers) could find their own manufacturer, and update themselves (or not, of course, depending on user prefs)
This happens with graphics cards too... (Score:2)
Could be worse... (Score:4, Informative)
RCA, makers of LYRA, has done worse though they advertised mp3Pro compatibility on their RD1080 but it did not use the psycoaudio data in playback (therefor using mp3Pro was useless). Close to a year later a firmware support the advertised fearture was released.
Another way to control the consumer (Score:5, Insightful)
Although firmware upgrades could be a very positive thing for users, providing ways to customise and improve a device, they're also open to abuse. Apart from being a means to ship an inferior product earlier, this opens up an opportunity to control the consumer by messing with the normal product purchasing process. By doing this, the traditional rules of competition can be blurred enough for a company to succeed where it otherwise would not have.
The software industry has featured this idea for a while in a few forms: you buy the software, but then you don't really own it because you are just licenced to use it. Or you buy the software, but have to apply a critical update that comes with a licence change that changes it into something you wouldn't have purchased in the first place. Now, the hardware manufacturers can get in on the act, throwing the old rule book out the window. Companies will do anything to get ahead if they think they can get away with it. They're not people and have no sense of wrong or right - just a sense of profit or loss.
Firmware upgrades (Score:4, Insightful)
Beauty in design.. (Score:5, Insightful)
The true beauty of technology should be judged in its apparent simplicity.
Nokia did it to me (Score:4, Interesting)
After searching newsgroups and web sites, I came to find out that it's a somewhat common problem that may or may not be fixed with a firmware upgrade. I decided that I'd like to give it a try and prepared to backup my phone only to find that I couldn't get the upgrade anywhere on my own. A check on Nokia's site shows that I can either send it in to them at my own expense or call them and try to use a local authorized dealer. Not wanting to lose the phone for 10 days and pay shipping, I called and got two locations here in Austin. I called the first who informed me that they had the firmware, but didn't have the special cable required. The second told me flatly that they couldn't do it.
So, why are these two places listed with Nokia if they won't perform the service and what the hell is the deal with needing a special cable? Why can't I just transfer the firmware upgrade to my phone via IR or bluetooth, run it and have it restart and apply the upgrade?
After all this, I've decided to live with the problem. Not very satisfying at all.
Simple Concept: Be a *Late* Adopter (Score:5, Insightful)
- I bought a 4x DVD burner less than a year ago and had to firmware flash it. I can get an 8x now for less.
- Firmware flashing an 802.11g laptop wireless card went wrong and broke wireless networking on my laptop. As I hadn't set a system restore point, I had to re-install windows.
- I rushed out and bought SuSE Linux 9.0 for AMD64 as soon as it came out. Had to wait months for drivers to support my SATA drives and the onboard ALN on my MoBo.
I'm done.Video jukeboxes... I'll wait until trailer-park mamas are trampling each other at Walmart to get the $35 Christmas special model made by Kwok-tek or some other manufacturer you never heard of before.
- Greg
If it doesn't immediately benifit the end user (Score:4, Informative)
Not a path i like to see. (Score:5, Insightful)
Software has been sold with insane conditions that people take the responsibility off of the manufacturer but that is because software has been treated as art and not as real products. Hardware on the other hand do not have those conditions so when you buy something and it doesnt work, return it. The only way to remedy this problem is if enough people stay away from companies following the path of almost ready hardware. If its broke, they should fix it, not us.
When firmware updates don't won't... (Score:2)
http://www.nccomp.com/sysadmin/verizon.html
The only thing necessary for Micro$oft to triumph is for a few good programmers to do nothing". North County Computers [nccomp.com]
This allows binding agreements, and more (Score:4, Interesting)
If you buy something at a store in cash, the can put those 'by opening this you agree' contracts on them, but those don't mean much and they still can't identify you.
By making you get an update they can collect information on you, which has dollar value, and more importantly, get you to click and EULA on the firmware which extends to other things as well as saying that it can be ammended at any time and remain binding.
This is creeping into everything. I just sent away for my credit reports today. If you get your credit report from a credit agency through the web, they make you click an agreement which covers all sorts of things in addition to making you waive certain rights under the FCRA in some cases, as well as asking for all sorts of information in order to give it to you which is not required. If you send for it by mail, you only have to give the information required by law and you waive no rights.
If you make enough noise, you can probably get them to send you the update in the mail, but you still must identify yourself to them and the effort is not worth it.
The article doesn't mention it, but it's not about time to market, or cutting corners or anything. They want to 1) identify the customer 2) get them to enter into some sort of agreement.
Having no firmware upgrades... (Score:3, Interesting)
The main type of devices I am unpleased about are the mainstream DVD-players. Lack of features, wrongly implemented features, plain old hangups.... Who ever invented a DVD-player that can't do MP3 in random order ? Why should I want to see a JPEG building up on the screen while you could double-buffer it ?
Sure, sometimes it's just lack of hardware support. But it's also just lazyness I guess.
I have a Yamada DV-6000 now (divx-capable), which has regular firmware updates. Simply burn a CD-Rom and stuff it in the drive. If you are careful (and don't go updating your drive in the middle of a lightning storm or anything) you will gain more functionality for the same price. Easy as that.
Big companies still have this lesson to learn.
As a longtime consumer of electronics/computers... (Score:5, Interesting)
rather sell you this years model... Are you sure that new DRM standards aren't going to cripple the possibility of that future accessory upgrade you were promised?
Hiptop (Score:5, Interesting)
Always dreaded firmware upgrades (Score:5, Interesting)
- Always make the original firmware / bios available. Keep in in some form of ROM if possible.
- Always permit a fallback to the original firmware / bios (because the original should be available, as noted above). You almost need a pin or switch to do it, similar to the dip switch on some motherboards which restored default settings. Ideally, it would be nice to see a firmware loader in ROM, which could then manage and select among different firmware versions on a device, accessed through some key sequence, available for a second or two on power-up.
- No extra tools or hardware should be required. I don't even have a floppy drive hooked up anymore.
- No special operating system should be required (Windows-only firmware upgrades, anyone?). For firmware upgrades to be robust enough to make me feel all warm and fuzzy, all that should matter is getting the new firmware file into the device, over an industry-standard protocol, and you then automatically load the new firmware the next time you boot (including a check for corruption in the firmware upgrade file).
- User data and settings should be maintained through the upgrades. If new settings are available / old options are removed, then it is the manufacturers job to avoid screwing things up, not the device owners job to reset / reload everything.
Oughta cover it. In a perfect world.Consumer dependance or features you don't want?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, three months later, the download that enables that feature comes out, but lo and behold - the download also includes a bunch of "features" you don't want - such as DRM or embedded advertising.
It's happened before... my sound card (A SB Audigy) has a digital 5.1 output
Or, take the case of ReplayTV - most people don't know or realize this, but the OS in the ReplayTV can be set up to display advertising on the pause screen - it was only used once IIRC, but there's nothing saying that the owners of ReplayTV can't do it again. The ReplayTV is particularly nasty in this since the files that run the ReplayOS are in fact digitally signed so you can't "tinker" with the operating system.
What am I afraid of? The general public is getting used to paying monthly fees to have things that were previously "free" - Cable TV, for example. Radio will probably end up going the same route - check out XM and Sirius Radio. Now, imagine if you bought a hardware device - for example a PDA. Right now, I can go to Best Buy and drop a few dollars on a Palm Tungsten something-or-other... and it's _mine._ I don't have to pay Palm one red cent over that initial purchase I made if I don't want to.
Now imagine 10 years from now - you go to Best Buy to pick up that PDA. But now, instead of paying a few hundred dollars once for a Palm Pilot, you now have to pay to purchase the unit, PLUS subscribe to some sort of subscription service if you want your PDA to, for example, connect to your PC.
Already the world of personal gadgetry is heading this way. Check out the "Get it now!" service from everyone's favorite cellphone carrier. You have to pay to download a game, PLUS you have to pay a monthly fee (if the author of the game wants you to) - and many cell phones now have the ability for the carrier to "turn off" certain features on various cell phones.
The same thing goes for my ReplayTV - two exact same models hardware-wise - the exact same software inside! Yet, on the newer "5500" series units, two features (commecial skip and Internet Video Sharing) are disabled. One option bit in the internal "registry" turns these features off. Now, this was in response to a settlement with Hollywood, but what is to prevent hardware manufacturers from doing the same thing for profit? Or, charging you a monthly fee to enable certain features - if you don't pay, the features are disabled! It's not like a service is being provided, since all you are paying for is a little "command" to be echoed to your device to enable whatever it is you're doing - similar to cable boxes of old that could have their IR receivers disabled by the cable company if you weren't renting a remote from them - so you couldn't use any universal remotes for free.
The long and the short of it
Just my pissing-and-moaning-about-companies-trying-to-mak
-RickTheWizKid
RTFA (Score:2)
Re:Wow (Score:3, Informative)
You don't have to register to use it. Registration gets you technical support. Activation (no user data required) gets you use of XP. Only activation is required to use WindowsUpdate.
Re:Sounds like extortion to me.... (Score:3, Interesting)
That's probably one of the reasons why companies like Nokia and SonyEricsson release their phones in Asia and Europe before the US.
Re:Sounds like extortion to me.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:lovely. (Score:2)
I believe they want us all to shut up and keep buying their crap. However, unless working at fast-food becomes a job synonymous with durable-goods manufacturer and fast-food employees unionize to get a better wage there's a good chance that only upper-middle-class and above families/single people are going to be buying their crap.
Of course, for every complainer to the phone-support techs in Bangelore with suspicously Caucasian names and Hindi accents, there's a legion of silent,
Re:Drooling Morons (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem with most people is that, as the previous poster said, they're mentally lazy. They just learn enough to do their job (and usually only adequately then), and outside of that they don't want to learn anything at all. So when som