Hi John
Re CFM, I recommend you join the Team Celestron beta testing forum. You will receive a quicker response there and usually from their firmware engineer himself.
http://teamcelestron.com
Your right about their apparent lack of regard for the southern hemisphere. I have raised two issues with them in the past.
One - A lack of compatibility of their OAG and .x7 HD focal reducer, an issue which would affect there sales globally. The problem was dealt swiftly with Celestron releasing a new adapter to the market.
Two - The southern All star polar alignment error. I reported the error on the 28th April 2013 via the Team celestron forum and via their normal support. The bug has still not been fixed. Many other frustrated Nextar + HC users from other countries have chimed into my thread on Team Celestron but after 14 months we have recently been advised to write a formal letter of complaint to Celestrons head office. It seems Celestron managers dont regard the issue as high priority and keep the firmware engineer on projects that safeguard their sales in "other parts of the world"
It's only the Nexstar + hand control that is effected. The older Legacy hand control will work. Others have demanded the older HC from retailers which work.
Cheers
Rod