Automatic updates for embedded devices

Automatic updates for embedded devices

Posted Sep 8, 2006 16:57 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954)
In reply to: Automatic updates for embedded devices by appie
Parent article: Security updates for embedded systems

It's not clear what distinction you're drawing between cars and software. And also why you're comparing the two, since this thread is really about devices that contain software, and as such, cars are clearly included. The article does emphasize Internet-accessible devices, so maybe we can stick to those.

You seem to imply a router with Linux inside is more complex than a car, therefore should be expected to have bugs, and so we should expect to apply updates to the router, while not to the car.

A router is not more complex than a car, even with millions of lines of code in it. What makes the difference between a car and a router is that the car is mostly hardware, which makes it more expensive to upgrade in the field. Therefore, producers spend more on removing the bugs during design. With the router, it's in society's best interest to leave some bugs in and fix them in the field, thus getting more function for less money overall.

There could be some dispute over the risk of bugs in a router, leading a producer to ship one with bugs and also without field upgradability, and that's really the point of this article. But that applies to cars too.

Maintenance is not a product, it's a SERVICE

BTW, this uses a strange definition of "product." Normally, a product is whatever a company produces, and lots of products are partly or entirely service.

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