Software updates: Downloadable or Service Centre only????

Having read with interest on the dtv forum that the current crop of Sony HDD/DSTB are proving difficult to operate, has made me ask, should we be able to download firmware directly from the internet?. Think of it, having forked out $1200-1500 for one of these devices and not living within 30-45 minutes of a sony service centre, why can't this be possible. Without forums such as dtv, the average consumer would not know that a firmware patch exists, ever tried the Sony website? One such user called the Sony call centre, to be told to check the website, but no such patch, nor any software update for the year 2006 could be found. I understand the reluctance of organisations to make freely available over the internet, software updates, on the understanding that any inexperienced user could render their product useless, but in this day and age of the internet where Mr Gates issues software updates on a weekly basis, something has to give..