Originally Posted by
canyonblue737
the fix has been in development for 5 months and was due now anyway, they aren't starting from scratch.
Not really. That was then. This is now.
They WERE working on a fix to what was hoped to be a very minor issue with an almost secret system, that they hoped nobody really knew about. And it was probably going to get about the same level of attention to detail and safety and testing that the original 'almost ok' system it was fixing - ie. just get it done and into service as quickly and cheaply as possible, without too much fuss.
Now, however, the task is somewhat bigger. It is a fix for a badly broken system which is unfit for purpose, which by all accounts has directly killed hundreds of innocent passengers and crew. Not only that, but it is being done under the scrutiny of the whole world, where EVERYBODY knows about it, and pretty much the whole World has lost faith in Boeing to do it properly. The FAA and all the other countries of the World's Regulatory bodies will be fully aware that the travelling public are unlikely ever to fully trust this, so the standards against which it will be judged will have to be set very high.
So I don't think we can expect the fix to be "due now", based on it having "been in development for 5 months". The task is far bigger than they hoped.