tonyp56 said:
To begin with, I was JUST stating that I'd rather Dish not release software until they actually had something worth releasing (fixes bugs, activates features, etc...) Why release software that is pointless? (I know just because I don't see a difference, doesn't mean the new software doesn't do something!)
I am sure people that benefit from the release would have a different opiniont.
However, there have been some questionable 811 releases that have me puzzeled. Since I am not prevy to the software release I just chalk it up as not knowing the whole picture.
tonyp56 said:
I realize that no SW is perfect, BUT, there is no excuse to release a product that has as many problems as the 811 (or the 301, 311, 322, 522, 921, 721, 6000, etc...) did/has.(We shouldn't have ever talked about a dark video issue, the 811 should have had Fav lists that actually hold more than 120 channels, Dish Home should have been activated from the beginning, and etc...) My point about not releasing more software until they get things fixed is very simple, why release software today, then two, three, four, etc. weeks from now release another SW ver. then in another month release another SW release. Why not consolidate all these little, pointless SW releases into ONE. Also why not take the time to test the newer SW to make sure that they are not adding more bugs, or at the very least no major bugs. I have had my 811 for over six months, and it is finally working like it should have when I first got it. There is no excuse for that, I don't care how imperfect you say software is!
Couple of reasons here Tony. You might not agree with them, but here they are... (And I agree there is no excuses for releasing software at the quality levels that Dish does. They need to step it up)
1) If they were to wait until they fixed everything they knew about, it would be a lot longer cycle than we currently have and a lot more customer pain in the long run. Imagine what the out cry would be if they waited 8 months after the intial release to fix all the issues that have been addressed since last December. I don't think there would have been anybody left using an 811. As to why the 811 was released in that state to begin with is another question. Could be number of reason including part issues etc.
2) When software is released, there is usually a process of determing if one should or not. In lots of cases, the determining factor is "Will the user be better off today, than yesterday". If the answer is yes, the software usually is released. If they were to wait for all customer related bugs to be fixed, software may never get released. It is an ongoing problem.
3) There are always bugs that are not seen in the lab, but later when widely deployed show up. Personal example: We released process control software and a refiner reported random crashes. We could not reproduce the problem so they sent out an engineer to sight. We checked everything out and it was not until I noticed that when someone on another machine pressed the horn silence key all the other machines lost a buffer. This was not caught by the test group. Sometimes it takes real world environments to create these types of bugs.
FYI: I had three different DTV receivers for seven years, and I NEVER was dissatisfied with features, bugs, blank screens, NO guide information, mis-mapping of my channels, Favorite lists, and etc... When I pressed the guide button on the remote I never waited thirty-ninety seconds for the guide information to come up! (and that was with a 72 hour guide) When I switched to Dish just over two years ago with two 301's I noticed right away that Dish's receivers (at least the 301 and 811) are a lot more buggy than DTV. Why is this? Doesn't DTV use software for their receivers? Wouldn't this cause the same problems I am having on my Dish receivers? And another thing, during this seven year period I only received three SW updates (two of them went to two receivers at the same time).
I do like Dish better than DTV when it comes to price, programming choices and quality. But when it comes to their equipment I am very dissatisfied.[/QUOTE]
I am assuming your 39 seconds includes an acquiring signal? I agree with you that Dish needs better software develpment process. There are a number of threads that discuss this issue. You can do a search and see the opinions why this is the case. As to DTV vs. Dish. This is interesting. My neighbor has 6 DTV receivers of different types, He mentioned a few months back that they were randomely locking up. All of them. Sometime the environment is what shows the bugs. That is the only way I can explain some of the 811 bugs and why we are not all seeing them. For the record, I have seen my share of 811 bugs.
Since I have not had any experience with DTV and have not insight into either companies process, I cannot comment on difference in software quality. From the posts it seems that DTV is more conservative in their release process. This usually equates slower release cycles, but higher quality. Also DTV is a different model. More OEM like and the OEM companies might be better in producing software.
Don't read this wrong, There are way to produce good and bad software. Yes all software has its bugs. Some are more reliable than others. The point I was making is that having the expectations that a box is bug free is not pratical. Having the expectations that all mainly work as designed and the box is reliable is more than fair.
Since I have been an 811 user since December, I know your pain and understand your points. Hopefully I glarified my position and thoughts.
