the next BIG or small Thing...(Interface Redesign)

Why spend resources making a fancy interface that most users will only access a few time in the normal life of the unit?

I think you have to more clearly define "fancy" - does that mean just 'looks cool' or does it mean 'easier to use/more functional' ??

If the former, there is probably less value though you can't ignore what competition offers and we customers are fickle when it comes to decision making and choosing our purchases

If the latter then the answer to that question lies in the fact the the UI *is* the product to most new & inexperienced users. It's what they encounter when trying to use the unit for the very first time. It's what helps them form their first impressions of the product. It's what they struggle with before they can get their data onto the NAS and afterwards once their data in on their NAS and they are trying to setup a media server, or remote access or other functionality that is advertised as being oh so easy.

Consider all of the frustrated comments on this forum from new users who can't figure out how to setup their NAS. Frustration enough for some to return their NAS and buy something "simpler" despite many efforts to help.

Add to that that there are a lot of common issues Netgear could address with an easier to use UI - my favourite being the overly complex permissions control (OK - some documentation from Netgear would help too, but that's another topic)

A UI overhaul is long overdue in my opinion and to argue that Netgear should instead just focus on bug fixing and major feature additions (as so often argued whenever this topic is broached - just as @gibxxi does) is simply naive