Proposal: health-check and reporting utility

Creators & Developers
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There’s been a fair bit of chatter on this forum about thermal issues, BIOS versions, whether this or that re-flashing is safe to use, etc.

I have a nascent suggestion - that each Framework computer has an optional utility that reports health data back to FW on, say, a weekly basis. I’d argue that long-term performance data can only improve things like battery health and thermal efficiency over the long term. Knowing the indicators that lead to system degradation is useful, not least because the user could be warned before a failure occurs, especially if they’re running their system excessively hot.

This “phone home software” does not have to be privacy-violating, as it does not have to send serial numbers or link the data to a customer order, if the user prefers to be incognito. However, if it would be useful to Framework, I’d far sooner trust them with that kind of data than, say, Microsoft. (Framework users who run Windows will be sending this data to Redmond already, and it won’t be optional, nor will it have privacy warranties.)

I realise FW are probably maxed-out right now, given that they’re not even halfway through the Pro 13 batches, but this not the kind of thing one can just whip up - it needs infrastructure. One to ponder?

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I do think something like this would be great for improving current and future FW products. It would pull a lot more information than just what is posted in the forums or via support tickets, especially since you could get information from people who either don’t think they have an issue, aren’t bother by an issue, or information on systems properly working which usually don’t get reported.

However there is the concern of any kind of “phone home software”: what is it sending? I feel like this should be an opt-in thing that tells you exactly what’s being collected and for what purposes. I do feel like I could trust FW more than other companies, but as with other companies that may have once had good intentions who’s to say FW wouldn’t follow suit.

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Yes, and IMO this is a solved problem; good open-source software does this already. Firmware Update Manager comes to mind and does this responsibly, asking for consent to send, etc.

It’s usually a question of company scale. FW are small now, and so can be trusted, and I doubt they’d sell up to ghouls like Dell or HP. Small challenger companies e.g. Innocent Drinks and Wild Body Care have lost their soul when they agree to be swallowed up.