firmware update patterns and challenges, open source the code ?

[soulgolem]

I've noticed that in this new age, there is a tendency (probably to stay competitive) to over promise with the intention of finishing the product vision over future product updates.

I believe this is introduces new challenges where it's hard to keep your coding crew motivated to work on a product that "feels" like it's done, notably if the company has begun new developments for future products.

Recently, i've seen a couple of cases of company simply open sourcing the code (sometimes with realistic limits), so that the users can "finish" the product. Although this can introduce new challenges, i believe it gets things done quicker and with less ressources, instead of having the programmer crew work on an old product, you just need one person to check the proposed code for potential problems, test it thoroughly, etc.

It also creates a nice sense of community around a product as the users can lend a hand, with the reward being the bettering of the tool you love to use.

At the end of the day, the company can still have control over what gets pushed out and what doesn't align with the product design philosophy.

I'm saying this because the last firmware has been in beta for a while now, so i can't help but to read between the lines that no one at the company is super excited about finishing this up, or introducing long awaited small tweaks that would absolutely bring this product's workflow to the top of its game.

This is not a complaint, more like a suggestion for a modern approach to a new kind of challenge,
.. or well, just hire me ! 

Francis.

[camillomuc]

Of course this is also a way to achieve a finished product.
I really donīt understand why it isnīt possible to correct the bugs of the current beta and perhaps provide some of the requested features for over a year now. Should be possible for a company like Sequential/ Oberheim. There are some smaller companies who manage firmware development quicker and better

[soulgolem]

Of course this is also a way to achieve a finished product.
I really donīt understand why it isnīt possible to correct the bugs of the current beta and perhaps provide some of the requested features for over a year now. Should be possible for a company like Sequential/ Oberheim. There are some smaller companies who manage firmware development quicker and better

it does make you wonder.
in a certain past it could be explained by having a small tech team, but now you can just send an AI agent on the task and it'll produce code better than 99% of developers, test it 10 times in various environments, all before before lunch break !

what's more, if the code would be open sourced, we could write better effects that the company could reuse in future products, not that the current ones aren't good enough, but it could get magical.