But isn't that exactly the problem the rest of us, the unwashed masses without the publicity, have? "We" have no one pro-actively requesting firmware updates for us. No one in the supply chain has an incentive to do that for "us".
No. John did not solicit the firmware update for me, I did not ask for it at any stage, and he did not "pull strings" or anything of the like because I'm involved. It had absolutely nothing to do with me or the publicity of the blog.
He either requested it for his own scopes he is selling, or Rigol simply offered it to him because he's an official Rigol dealer, and that's what you'd expect them to do with their dealers. BTW, he was the one that found the X-Y issue and got it fixed.
He simply offered me the firmware he got given because he knew I'd be doing a review soon and it might possibly fix some issues.
And BTW, I did not get the scope from him, I got it direct from Rigol NA (US), who presumably did not care enough to follow up and forward me any new firmware.
So in this case I do not have better access to firmware than anyone else, I got it like everyone else likely would, through their local Rigol dealer.
If I was a regular Emona customer buying the scope from John, he'd give me the latest firmware, because that's what good dealers do.
So those who are complaining they can't get Rigol firmware updates, I suggest you ask your local dealer you bought it from. That's one of the value-added services they usually offer, because in this case Rigol themselves seem pretty piss-poor at it directly.
Dave.