radish;293750 Wrote: 
> An average user should be running 7.0.0, which wouldn't have had this
> problem. When you use a pre-release version of SC7 your controller will
> start getting pre-release firmwares, and if you're not willing to put up
> with breaks you shouldn't be using them.

I don't think the actual problems here were due to my or anyone else's
will.
The fact that I'm willing to put up with breaks does not mean that I
accept any dead-end updates as well. Fortunately this bug was quickly
fixed.

It is reasonable to require that the update functionality in the SB
controller is a well-defined and limited peace of software that can be
used with high reliability. After that is under QA, one can hail the
rest of the bug parade just as much as one likes. Further, while all
the stable, testing and unstable releases of the squeececenter are
published online, one would expect that anyone can put any of those in
use in a server without crapping the update function of one's
controller device.

I referred to some usability problems beyond this specific bug that may
hit the average user and that are present in 7.0.0 too:

i) unable to reject controller updates (due unawareness of the back
button feature for instance, and in this kind of bug it would not have
even helped everyone)

ii) unable to consider the immediate need for the automated update
(should I update a security fix before I let it run in the public
internet or any open wlan connections, perhaps?)

iii) what are the necessary actions that can be used to revert the
controller back to a working version asap, and where to get the
information which is the latest working version (assuming "the next"
will not do if the device is unable to update itself)

Some obvious remedies for i) and ii) are mostly
human-computer-interface related: 
- add "Cancel" to the update menu
- add release notes that can (must?) be read in the menu that include a
clear catecory of each update, say critical, bug fix, added feature or
support etc. - keep critical (such as security fixes) and other updates
separate when possible (they may still be interdependent, though)

I don't know improvement for the iii). I've been using the  gadget for
only 3 weeks now and I've read these fora and wikis for less times than
my controller has updated itself :). I would have to investigate the sc
server vs. controller revision dependency further to see what is it
about. Before this case I assumed that the controller updates (i.e. the
update feature alone, not the rest of user level functions) would not be
affected by the choice of the server software revision. That was my
mistake and lesson learned.

In this case the controller update issue was professionally fixed at
the origin of the fault and all is well now. The best solutions always
start with facing the facts.


-- 
penguin
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