Firmware - when or even if to change.

[curious aardvark]

well actually it just crashed, never opened in notepad.

I've installed proftweak and it launches that now - but it's not exactly in english, if you know what I mean. And makerware has an annoying habit of resetting everything you've changed when you click the create customised profile button, just because it can.
User friendly, it just isn't.

simplify3d looks the business - but not many reviews and not enough to convince me that it's not just people associated with the company. And it's bloody expensive.
They probably aren't - but just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you :-)