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then that might be a feature that Boeing would want to add in future versions of their planes.

As a pilot, but not an airline pilot, I blame the pilots and maybe the company/Cypriot FAA here. They should be intimately familiar with all of the aircraft's systems, especially if they're flying something as advanced as a B-737.

The first step when any alarm goes off is to identify the alarm. The next step is to determine whether the alarm is malfunctioning or whether it's telling the truth. Apparently, these pilots were unfamiliar with the alarm, or else they would've put on their masks immediately, then determined whether the alarm was indeed telling the truth.

In short, proper training of the airline crew would've likely prevented this accident (based on the article). To move some of the myriad of other switches which a pilot needs away from them in order to make room for an oxygen mask that is in a position where they should've known it to be, is misplaced concern IMO. It doesn't save anyone in that accident, sure, but you can bet that every air crew since has reviewed their depressurization procedures because of this accident, making future flights safer.

Good points. According to the article the problem was missed during a pre-flight check, in addition to the later alarm which was ignored. I guess this incident is just more proof of the old saying, "Every time you make a system fool proof, someone just makes a bigger fool."

Hopefully you're right, and other aircrews will learn from this incident.