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my 2 cents...
Why do people sideload firmwares?
Because they are not satisfied with the actual one.
When I bought my Kobo it updated to 1.9.17, this was the one with no margin on top.
It was impossible for me to use the device with that firmware without reconverting all my books to give them some extra space on top. Which I did not do. It was Kobos fault, not the fault of my books.
Well, things like this can happen.
But it took Kobo months to come up with a new firmware! Until today I don't understand why there was not an updated 1.9.17a the second next day which did not introduce anything new but just add the top-margin...
I was really glad when I found out how to get older firmwares to the device, so I installed 1.9.16, which (for me!) was much better than 17.
Then, months later, came 2.x, which was WAY WAY WAY better then 1.9.x, it just had some bugs.
But Kobo is/was working on this, and everything will get fine, I have no doubt right now about that.
What I do not understand, why do you roll out the firmware location- or whatever-related?
Give the user the choise...
Kobo Desktop knows the users Kobo, it can tell him "for your device we can install 1.9.16, 1.9.17, 2.0, 2.1.5 which one do you want?"
And if there are still some problems on (some Australien?) devices to install 2.1.5 then do not offer this for devices that have this problems (I am sure you can find out by some IDs).
The problem right now is that people wait for 2.1.4 (or newer) but Kobo Desktop does not offer it.
If the actual firmware on some Kobos is one that causes problems (reboots or whatever) people will search for other ways like sideloading firmware.
My advice to Kobo, listen to what the user want. Checfk things like the "Firmware 2.1.4 Plugin Alpha Release", there is a reason why things like that get offered.
I completely understand that you want to sell books.
But no matter how many Wishlists, Discovers, Recommandations or whatever you put on the start screen, this is simply not the way *I* buy books. A "Shelves" button would be more useful for many users.
And some settings for formatting the SD card... New tapzones... Installable dictionaries (that you actually CAN sell! The installed English-German is a joke!)...
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