:D:D:D I have a wide grin on my face. Ear to ear. Those poll options! Delicious! In fact, I do have an idea or two on how to update the K1000. It's the missing metering system. That needs a firmware.
Because I am an engineer, I am working with software and I am actually involved with software bugs, my statement comes as a subject matter expert: Yes, all software has bugs.
Sometimes we call it "it's a feature, not a bug!" (har, har, :lol:) I heartily recommend the Dilbert cartoons and the Monkeyuser website which depicts software reality as it is.
So yes, everybody, please enjoy your firmware updates ASAP. As soon as possible. Sometimes the "possible" part depends on reputation gained. "Let someone else go first!" is good advice, indeed.
For the non-technical among us, a DSLR camera has a computer inside, that's the electronic parts you can see, if you take your camera apart. There is more to it, things that you cannot see, inside those electronics, it's software. In an analogy to a cooking book, the book cover, the paper pages are the hardware that you can touch and the recipes, the actual cooking instructions which you figure out, based on the text, an idea, that is the software, which you can't touch. As soon as you turn your camera on, there is some software which is executed at startup, enabling the whole system to (hopefully) work as intended. The software part which is provided with your camera, when it leaves the factory, is called firmware. Sometimes they figure out later how to improve that software, either fix things or add new features, and then they allow the users to change the old software with a new software. That is the "firmware update" process.
What can go wrong? Imagine Homer Simpson, eyeballing the turning tip of a cordless drill, pointed at his face. Below the text: SLOW MAN AT WORK. Have you seen that T-shirt?
Well, things do go wrong. In our case, the domain-specific language is "to brick" the damned thing. You perform a firmware update and then, for reasons that are beyond you, the camera doesn't start up any more, doesn't function at all, you're just holding a useless brick. They organized throwing contests in Finland, with Nokia 3110 bricks, you know, but they were all happy and excited - unlike you, holding a Pentax brick. Don't throw it, the Ricoh company can possibly help.
Actually, what is a bug?
Wikipedia says: "A software bug is an error, flaw or fault in the design, development, or operation of computer software that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways." I disagree. Yes I do.
My definition goes: "A software bug is a deviation from a published software requirement or specification." This is deep, man! It's not just anything that is deemed incorrect or unexpected. It has to be a breech of contract! If it's not a broken requirement or a deviation from a published (not any, but a legally binding) specification, then it's not a bug! It's something else, a sighting, an observation, something unexpected, something that maybe needs to be dealt with, but it's not a bug.
Software isn't made on-the-go, out of the blue, sold as a product "as is". Someone commissions work to be done by software engineers and lays out what is wanted. Requirements. The more, the better. If that leaves room for interpretation - then it will be misinterpreted, unless later corrected with more specific requirements.
So Pentax found ways to make our lives better. If their software engineers behave according to industry's best practices, it's a reason to be happy and perform firmware updates. However, my understanding as a gaijin, this profession of software developer is not kept in high regard in Japan, so we might get further bugfixes along the way. I am looking forward to any firmware that enhances functionality but that genius quote still stands.
With doctors, when they mess up, it's called "malpraxis". Very common, unfortunately, more than people are aware of. With software engineers it's called insufficient testing, along with low maturity requirements. Reputation is built hard, over many years, and it gets lost in an instant.
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