OK, Now for some completely wild speculation.
I don't really understand why Cybook (and others -- I'm not picking on Cybook) are so slow in rolling out updates. If you have a programmer working on the device there is no way it can take them much time to make the very minor changes we have seen. In fact, the software across the board should have greatly improved by now.
Then I considered what I had learned from watching the posts of RobertB from Astak up in the news thread. Astak is also sourcing the Netronix ebook that is the basis for the Cybook. Astak has no staff so both hardware and software are coming from Netronix.
So now I have this picture in my mind of the programmer's job at Netronix.
They get an order from Cybook. Cybook specifies the details of the startup screen. The layout of the library screen and some more details of the layout. The programmer customizes the standard Netronix software build to Cybook spec's. This is a top priority since there won't be any Cybook sales unless there is an ebook that looks like a Cybook ebook.
Cybook has some enhancement requests and puts them into the queue for the Netronix programmer.
Meanwhile, Foxit comes along with a request for the Foxit reader. Foxit wants to use their own pdf engine, but they still require a bit of custom work from the Netronix programmer. Netronix management has their choice of what to work on next. Even without the enhancements, the Cybook is selling. These enhancements might make for happier customers, but it probably won't make a major change in sales. On the other hand, taking care of Foxit creates another sales outlet and opens up the market. So, Foxit gets priority.
Netronix finishes up the Foxit software build, and the Cybook enhancements are next on the list. However, Astak steps up as a new customer. Once again, the developers sign on to deliver Astak's custom startup screen and software tweaks.
Now we have three different sets of software (Cybook, Foxit, Astak) all requesting slightly different enhancements and all using different software builds. Before Netronix can begin working on any of these requests, it has a new customers pop up (STAReBOOK, Soribook, NUUT, Pocketbook, and Netronix' own ebook line; see
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Netronix ).0
Somewhere along here Netronix upgrades its hardware. Now its only making the eb-600 version of the hardware. That means that it has to drop everything and re-tweak a few things on customers that are already released to enable the new hardware.
As a result of this process, only new customers get serviced. Upgrades/tweaks (unless they are critical bug fixes) get continuously pushed to the back of the queue.
This is all merely speculation. My point is that there is no way it is taking even a single programmer years to make the minor changes we are seeing to the software. Their must be other demands on the programmer's time. My speculation is that we are seeing a very limited programming resource shared across all of Netronix's distribution partners.
Michael