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

sphardy wrote:

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

I must admit, when a friend decided to buy a QNAP unit (Despite my reccomendation to get the ReadyNAS) I was somewhat jealous of the interface used in it. Everything looked well laid out and easy to configure. Unlike the ReadyNAS GUI that can at times be frustrating. File permisssions, as sphardy says, is one such area that can be totally mind-boggling for new users. I struggled to get my head round it at first, and i've been working with PC's for 15 years (albeit as a pure amateur).

On the subject of resource allocation, we simply don't (or I didn't at the time of writing my post above) know how much Netgear is willing to devote to programming a new GUI in terms of resources / staff. All businesses are feeling the pinch these days and I doubt Netgear are any exception, even if the Gartner report is to be taken at face value. The point I was trying to make from a simple end-user perspective, is that if resources HAD to come down on one side or another, i'd prefer stability over a new GUI. However, i'm not going to pass it up should it become available. Nor I doubt, would anyone else.

I saw the anandtech review, hence my return to this topic. I must say this looks promising, and for once am glad to be proven utterly wrong in my assumptions... Assuming the v5 firmware makes it to the existing hardware. Given Netgear's ongoing support for older NAS models, I don't see why this shouldn't be the case. And if so, finally they will be able to shake off the negative comments attributed to the software they put on their products.