I don't see why people have such a hatred and attitude towards a new sony firmware.
The fact of the matter is, whether *YOU* like it or not, they are protecting *YOU* from things like brickers by updating their firmware as often as they can.
Personally I could care less as I'm a happy 2.71SE user. I was a happy 1.5 user for a long time, and I'm sure 2.71 will be excellent for me for a long time too!