MyDigitalSSD BP4 finally offers a Phison-based SSD that isn't terrible?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6809/mydigitalssd-bp4-25-msata-240gb-review

In the beginning (i.e., around 2007), there were several SSD controllers.  All of them were terrible.  Then Intel made the first SSD controller that was actually good, or at least good enough to be worthwhile.  This gave them a monopoly on good SSDs, so they did what all good monopolists do:  charge an arm and a leg for their product.  80 GB for $600.

Then Indilinx made a controller that also wasn't terrible.  While not as good as Intel's, it was at least good enough to create SSDs that were worthwhile.  Finally, there was real competition.  Alas, there were still some terrible controllers on the market, which means that you had to be very careful about which particular SSD you bought.

Then SandForce came out with a controller that was actually good.  Then Marvell did.  Or perhaps rather, Crucial figured out how to write firmware for a Marvell controller that was good; the same controller with earlier firmware was still terrible.  Indilinx, incidentally, had initially had the same problem.  Then Samsung made a good controller to replace their previous terrible one.  Then SandForce made a better controller.  Then Samsung made another, better controller.  Then LAMD made a good controller.  Then Indilinx made a better one.  And Marvell kept tweaking their own controller, even as Plextor, OCZ, and others figured out how to write good firmware for it as Crucial already had.  Finally there were lots of good SSD controllers, and lots of competition.

And, alas, still some terrible controllers, most notably from JMicron and Phison.  That means that, while there were more good SSDs and fewer bad ones on the market than before, there were still some bad ones.  It didn't help that some SSD vendors used good controllers for some SSDs and bad ones for others, and had confusing naming schemes that made it hard to figure out what you were getting.  (Kingston and Adata, I'm looking at you.)

Now someone has figured out how to make a budget SSD based on a Phison controller that is, if not great, at least not terrible.  And what do I mean by terrible?  How about completely stalling for 20 seconds and not accepting any writes whatsoever in that time so that the entire computer locks up for the duration.  That's what the previous version MyDigitalSSD BP3 repeatedly did in one benchmark AnandTech ran.

It remains to be seen whether the rest of the Phison-based SSDs will also get working firmware; the only garbage ones still in stock on New Egg are a bunch of Crucial V4s.  But if so, then that leaves JMicron as the last of the bad controllers still on the market.

Maybe someday, we'll reach the point where if you want to buy an SSD, you can just buy whatever and it will actually be good.  Some particular SSDs will always be better than others, of course.  But if the others are always a lot faster than any hard drive, that sure beats the "others" being liable to lock up your computer for 20 seconds at a time.