Feature requests, bug fixes etc.

G8ZPX

Hi, is there a complete and concise list of ALL feature requests, bug fixes, and enhancements without having to trawl the forum please? Not asking for dates, roadmaps or technical details, just a simple list of features, bugs and improvements have been requested/acknowledged.

Tim - W4TME

For enhancement requests, just select Ideas category from the Community home page.

Bug fixes are listed in the release change log.

Andy M5ZAP

What about known issues?

G8ZPX

Tim, I know about that but its hardly concise. What we need is a concise list of all features that have been requested, in simple one-line entry spreadhseet style. Not pages and pages of chaff with lots of unnecessary comments to wade through.

With regard to bug fixes, the same thing applies. Are you saying that the userbase is not allowed to know what bugs are getting reported until after they have been fixed/forgotten about?

To me it often feels like a one-way street on this forum. Lots of input and great ideas from the users which contribute to the product, lots of chatter and exchange of healthy opinion, yet at the end of each thread it get closed and we still have no real idea if any of it will gain traction at Flex, either now or in to the future.

Andy M5ZAP

Rather than bug fixes do you mean known or reported bugs / issues.  Bug fixes implies they have been fixed.

Tim - W4TME

Our bug tracker is an internal software management tool and does not have the capability to summarize open issues and present them as a public list.

Michael Starkey

So the answer to his question is NO?

This long standing clandestine approach may well be your downfall. To keep fans in the game you need to share information, be open and transparent. You can't just keep secret about important things and only feed people the corporate BS line. The world has moved on from the vendor lock-in days of the 80s. Flex will continue to lose existing and potential new customers by keeping them in the dark.

I know several ex-Flex users. One who is an active CDXC member and long time user of Flex products is now being extremely vocal on how great the hardware is, but also very critical of the lack of software progress and openness. He recommends not buying one for several years to come!

Steve K9ZW

@MS - While their might be some sort of middle ground between open-list/closed-list it is exactly this sort of "siege hold-hostage mentality" that already earned the end of the roadmap.

This is nothing clandestine and is not corporate BS.  It is keeping bad-players, the schadenfreunde of our hobby from joining your mysterious pundits (and concealing identities of public actors is "clandestine") who like you,  think that one-size-fits-all as if their pronunciation of good/bad thumbs-up/thumbs-down edicts in secrecy would affect more than the most feeble minded of their followers.

I too know ex-Flex users, for various reasons from non-product reasons (economic pressures mainly), to personal pleasure (a couple do not want to run software, setup multiple programs, or want anything so feature rich in in end) and a couple just didn't like their radio (actual I bought one from a "Mr Negative" that when it arrived it was obvious he had never hooked up the radio or booted it - it had been a "shack trophy" shown but unused!).  All of those are okay reasons - if it doesn't work for you, don't use it.

But to troll a manufacture not because the product meets/doesn't meet the person's "must have features/performance" and "would like to have features/performance" because they thought buying a $3-8k radio should include the right to examine every bit of proprietary information the multi-$m may chose to keep proprietary is insane.

Putting on my marketing hat, I personally would divide the lists into tiers - one tier which would become a feature in a marketing campaign.  But guess what, I am just another punter with a couple of their radios and they don't even have to acknowledge my ideas.  Doesn't change what the radio does - right now, right here - which is to be more fun and a better performer than anything else in my shack.

We hams so often think that our take fits for all other hams. 

If working with a 100% transparent company where you can ask for any bit of information you might want who is major in the market with leading edge transceivers is more important than how well the radio actually works, then maybe some other company would be your first choice.  Don't think there is such a Unicorn though.

All best and 73

Steve K9ZW

Andy M5ZAP

Steve,

Michael was addressing flex, you chose to reply in a negative aggressive style. Flex are big boys and are able to speak and stick up for themselves.

Trying to speculate on the type of operator or the character of a person who posts is just that speculation not fact.

Come on forum allow people to challenge and criticise flex without jumping down there throats.

It appears the Elmer status (this is not the first time from other Elmers, but certainly does not apply to most Elmers) makes some people over protective of flex.

Challenging is a very important part of a healthy forum!  It is not bad, rude or an attack on other forum users.Trying to stop that challenge or criticism is not healthy!

Andy M5ZAP

Sorry Rant over

Tim,

Having the full bug tracker document available to the public is I agree not necessary and could in fact create more confusion as a lot in the bug tracker is obsolete and unproven and could be user error etc.

But.... a short concise list of known issues with details of possible work arounds etc would be extremely useful, could reduce duplicate posts when a search doesn't reveal the answer as it is hidden in long lengthy threads.

Mike VE3CKO

Why not use what is already in place, submit a request at the HelpDesk. I had an issue earlier this week, instead to taking it public here in the community as submitted a ticket in the HelpDesk. Took me under two minutes to fill in and send, got a reply back within a half hour which confirmed what I thought I had to do, followed the instructions and all is well. Right from the horses mouth, in this case as in a few I've submitted in the past the horse was Dudley. I'm sure many of you have some experience with Dudley and his vast knowledge of the entire product line.

Having a FAQ with problems and known solutions might work with a small company and a product or two but now with multiple products and platforms just maintaining that database would be a resource hogging project. As long as Flexradio dedicates a person like Dudley to provide this kind of phenomenal support, I'd prefer the human touch rather than a database. With doom and gloom predictions of robotics taking more an more manufacturing jobs, artificial intelligence will likely take a larger roll in customer support.

Saying that, Gerald, your going to have to call Flexradio's future AI computer "Dudley".

Steve K9ZW

@Andy

Michael certain could speak for himself,  "yet you chose to reply in a negative aggressive style" to me. Like Flex, Michael and his mystery anti-Flexer's are big boys and are able to speak and stick up for themselves.

In a forum that allows people to challenge and criticize that includes a chance that folks dislike veiled threats.

There is no correlation with Elmer status other than a higher than typical interest in understanding FRS.  It is really unfair to other Elmers to attribute something negative to their status, and if it is helpful hold a finger over the word Elmer by my posts. 

We agree that challenging is a very important part of a healthy forum.  I'd run the forum differently if it were my task (no publicly exposed call sign then no posting for a start, automatic deletion of hearsay tales - put a name and call to the folks you quote or your post goes away, deletion/archiving/marking of obsolete/factually wrong or superseded information, deletion of deliberate duplicate threads, deletion of the faintest whisper of doxing/threats, and so on) but it isn't my call. 

Really it ends up that this same "If you don't open your bug tracker and feature request list up you're doomed and blah blah blah..." and my contest club's members will all bad talk you is the bully tactic.  Pretty crystal clear it is this stuff that lost the public Roadmap and created the controlled information situation we have.

When the Signature Series was newly announced and even as a new product I personally could call FRS, have lunch with FRS staff, or do an email exchange that covered some pretty interesting areas.  For some of these I did an NDA with FRS for an early part of what eventually became the Maestro.  All because I respected that they owned their business, that they owned every aspect of their information that wasn't specifically licensed to me as a consumer, and respected that their commercial needs should prevail over my personal selfish interests. 

We get to buy a radio and license the related software.  Period. 

That is the level of our stakeholdership. 

Demands beyond that, as you point out, are subject to the absolute decisions of FRS. 

FRS just said these items are not going to be public-facing for the umpteenth time, to which Michael posted his claims of doom.

That is Michaels right, but it also my right to express my disgust at the "do it or my contest club will unleash even more anti-flex resources than we are doing right now" ****.

YMMV and I do see your point, but it is also clear that my point equally deserves to be heard.

Thanks, all the best and 73

Steve K9ZW

Bill -VA3WTB

The answer was,, Our bug tracker is an internal software management tool and does not have the capability to summarize open issues and present them as a public list.

The answer to Tim's reply..
This long standing clandestine approach may well be your downfall


You can't just keep secret about important things and only feed people the corporate BS line


Flex will continue to lose existing and potential new customers by keeping them in the dark.


but also very critical of the lack of software progress and openness. He recommends not buying one for several years to come!

The bug tracker is internal and should remain there. If they released it then people would complain about the order they are in or anything eles.

Looking at the statements right above is just wrong.
Openness? Flex has that covered in spades.

No we are not defending Flex, but as this forum is for us, we defend it against poor information and misleading statements. Look at the above.

Because Tim and Gerald are very professional in how they answer, they will not say the kind of things we will, and how we do.

Andy M5ZAP

Steve, Bill

Drat, you picked up instantly on the flaw in my argument,  I agree jumping to the defence of someone else is exactly what I was moaning about

My tone of reply was not intended to be negative and aggressive which shows how careful we should be when posting!? And again if you read my post I said it doesn't apply to most  Elmers, maybe my wording would of better been "occasionally some forum members including some elmers can be overprotective of flex".

The forum has some very loyal flex users and it would help if we kerbed our protective instinct and allow people to challenge, criticise or question flex without it being deemed such a terrible thing to do.

Anyway for the good of everyone else I promise I won't continue this debate.

Steve K9ZW

@Andy - I'm guilty of nitpicking your words in a flat-what-they-read rather than a reasonable interpretation of  what-the-words-most-likely-were-meant-to-say.  And I'll confess to having done a chunk of post graduate work on the differing "quality of information" through various mediums before I decided what I was doing workwise was a better deal than what a PhD was going to add to my career. 

I should have been more respectful after making the point. 

@All - I'll make the offer to buy the first **** (or coffee, whatever) for an eyeball QSO on anything FRS or otherwise ham related.

I'll promise to use less words too.

And you only have to tell me your secrets if you want to.

73

Steve K9ZW

G8ZPX

CDXC is actually the largest nternational DX foundation outside of the US, not a contest club.

The person Michael mentioned has a right to privacy and confidential trust which Michael clearly respected.  I think I know the guy too. He was very active here before turning on Flex and the forum for not listening to concerns from customers. Is making naysayers of previous customers a sound business strategy?

Tim - W4TME

Not everyone will agree with the business decisions FlexRadio makes.  If there were "perfect" or ideal decisions, then everybody would be happy.  Unfortunately, some folks are not going to be happy. As the old adage goes, "you can't please all the people all the time".  We do our best with what we got.  That is what we strive for every day.

Reinaldo Leandro

On feature I miss that exist in the Elecraft K3 is the CW decoder, for receiving and sending.
The later one useful to know how good or bad is you keying.
I understand that the monitor signals are not delivered to DAX.
73

Reinaldo, YV5AM 

Norm - W7CK

I've had issues with Icom's and Kenwoods in the past.  A couple of the problems were really well known and you could find all sorts of information about them as well as a hord of people complaining on the Internet.

Every time I've ever called either company to address one of these well known issues, I was usually told that they had never heard of this before!

While it would be great if Flex would post some of this information for us,  I understand why they don't.  People complained relentlessly when they publicly posted a road map and missed a goal.

Bug fixes are a different issue.  It would be nice to know what bug fixes were being included in the next release.  Once again, if during the process something comes up and a particular bug is not able to be addressed, the public would be in a rage. 

Sometimes its just easier to produce patches and upgrades without the users knowing at all what is coming.  Far fewer gripes.

Norm - W7CK