Jerry,
I've been seeing parallels between the software industry and the MoCo for some time now. Used to be that you didn't want to introduce a new product until it had been thoroughly tested and debugged. This had multiple advantages, such as preserving your good reputation, reducing running changes and warranty expenses, etc. Then along came the software hotshots who started throwing out half-baked software in an attempt to be first to market, pump up their stock prices, get rich, and then disappear. Microsoft has been doing everything but the disappear part for ages (it's probably time for service pack 1 for Vista about now, some of their operating systems have had up to 4 service packs and countless other "fixes"). So I guess it was only natural for the MoCo to look at the big pile of money Mr. Gates has and assume that using the final customer as your unpaid QC inspector must be a really good idea.
Jerry
Yes Jerry, there are parrallels there. Our IT guys NEVER use any of the MS products until they've been out a minimum of one year, sometimes two.
It's not only the manufacturer who want's the product out there, today's consumer wants immediate gratification, or they will move to something else, so the blame can be spread around a bit. It's all a gambling game, with the consumer either benefitting or getting screwed.
Let's hope the MOCO has done some pretty, pretty, pretty good testing on the drive by wire...uh, it's kinda important to have a properly operating throttle control, ya know? At least maybe they made it a fail/safe component, instead of failing to WFO...

I don't want any stinkin' "Service Patches" on my throttle...