Firmware Upgrades For Everything

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."

Comments

Dude, where's my shares?

[monstroyer]

The concept is called time to market, the price you pay is quality. This is what happens when a society values profits over sustainability. The more faceless, the less accountable. One million marketers can't be wrong. Dude, where's my shares?

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?

[TheLinuxSRC]

How long until the masses catch up and stop being screwed?

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?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, while your uninformed opinions are very popular on Slashdot where every corporation is EEEVVIIIILLLLL (except for AMD, IBM, VA systems, and occasionally Novell) the real problem is not really in the EEEEVIIILLL corporations at all, but rather in the consumers that give them all the money. Despite the common knowledge of Slashdot readers, companies do not produce crappy products simply to 'force' you to buy them. They produce crappy products in response to customer demands. It is what the nameless, faceless, CONSUMERS demand that causes companies to put out what they do. When competitive pressures are great, and they are often in the case of electronics, things slip to the floor, one of which is quality. If the nameless, faceless, consumers demand quality and simplicity then there will be companies who respond to those goals. Right now, I'm sure you think that EEEVIL
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.

They're just thinking ahead

[microbox]

If this culture develops in this industry, then it will be easy for big business to force customers to accept 'improvements' that they would rather be without.

I see a business emerging!

[Trigun]

Sure it's dangerous, sure it can screw up your brand new DVD Player or home theatre system, so why not take it to a professional? Competitive rates assured!

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.

Slow down

[Anonymous Coward]

and maybe you would get it right without needing to "update/mess about with" every 3months

the consumer is not your beta tester

Bah ..

[Darken_Everseek]

"This raises concerns over alienating users that aren't tech-savvy and how this could affect perceptions of portable electronics as a whole."

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:Haven't had a problem with firmware updates yet

[TheLinuxSRC]

New features through firmware updates should be quite welcome to everybody who can follow the simple precautions necessary to update.

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.

This trend started with wireless NICs

[Helevius]

Wireless vendors are constantly fixing bugs or adding features or trying to meet specs in flux. Developers struggle to code on this uneven terrain.

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, 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 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 project's Linux floppy I was able to use prism2_srec to flash a different NIC, though.

Helevius

Simple Concept: Be a *Late* Adopter

[gbulmash]

Every time I've rushed out to get the latest, coolest, neatest gadget, I've paid through the nose for something with a high learning curve and limited features.

• 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

Definition of evil

[Tony]

I guess it depends on how you define "Evil." If by evil you mean they are willing to screw many individuals for their own profit, then most corporations are indeed evil. If you mean they are willing to use superior market share to destroy competition (thus hurting "consumers," who are really just individuals), then some are evil (I'm not convinced most, just a fairly large number).

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 /.. Simply because someone holds an opinion different from yours does not make them wrong; nor does your naive analysis of the corporate economy of America make you wrong. (Our economy is Capitalist like the Soviet Union was Communist-- that is, in name only.)

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.