Well, it's a lot of work to back-port features, and really, they've already
made their money off of you, so why would they bother? It might seem
short-sighted since it may impact your future buying decisions, but nobody
wants to spend the time and money to back-port features to older models,
especially if everyone is busy working on the next iteration of the product.

Robert Rolf <Robert.Rolf@ualberta.ca> wrote:

> Peter wrote:
> > On Thu, 6 Oct 2005, Chen Xiao Fan wrote:
> > 
> >> My washing machine is front-loaded type (European brand) and
> >> indeed there are lots of stuff on top. What is the problem?
> >> They seems to be much more rugged than the top loaded
> >> model from Japanese/Korea vendors. I have not yet read
> >> the manual to be honest because it works right out of the
> >> box.
> > 
> > 
> > Did you remove the bolts that hold the drum fixed during transport ?
> > ;-) ;-) ;-)
> > 
> > Maybe you should look at the manual a little anyway, even if you removed 
> > the bolts.
> 
> If the user interface is well done, he really should NOT need to
> read the manual, since it should all be intuitive with well labeled
> controls. But it certainly can't hurt to read it to see what might not
> be obvious.
> 
> But what about 'bad' firmware design? Why doesn't it get fixed even
> when it's easy to repair?
> 
> We have a new Kenmore (whirlpool) side load washer. If my wife
> pushes the 'cancel/pause' button at just the right point in the fill
> cycle, to add some clothes, the unit locks up solidly.
> Every button error beeps when pressed, but the unit simply will
> not 'start/continue'. It has to be unplugged to get it to listen
> to it's front panel. We have been able to reproduce the problem,
> have phoned Sears (Kenmore is their house brand) to complain, yet they claim
> that
> it's NOT a problem. The usual 'so don't use the pause button when filling'
> advice was given. Gimme a break. It's got bad firmware and they don't
> want to acknowledge it because they'd have to fix it under warranty.
> 
> Brand new Frigidair refrigerator had to have it's PIC controller replaced
> because the damper between the freezer and fridge would freeze up and
> not operate.
> Apparently the replacement controller now opens and closes the damper
> multiple times during a cooling cycle, the faster to wear out the motor.
> 
> One can sometimes fix a design screw up with firmware updates,
> but it's unfortunate the makers don't, even when it's easy.
> 
> There are many features that I like in the newer digital cameras,
> but I can't seem to find them all in ONE camera, in spite of months of
> looking. Camera makers COULD update their older cameras with features
> found in their later models (record mode histograms, fine focus zoom box,
> etc.)
> but they don't. An update only seems to fix stuff that is badly WRONG
> but never adds a useful new feature even though it's only needs firmware.
> Why is that?
> 
> 
> Robert




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