I see what you mean; that's a pity, because the main reason I wanted this refresh-key ability was for refreshing Samba shares. I confirmed your results by a test:

I connected via smb to a PC in my office. I opened a folder, and copied some files into it from my Mac.

At the PC's keyboard, I selected all the files in that folder, pressed CTRL-C, then CTRL-V to paste copies of them. 7 new files appeared on the PC's screen.

I ran the script:

try
tell application "Finder" to update items of front window
end try

... and no refresh occurred. I also clicked on a file in the shared folder, in Finder. No refresh. Switching to Icon or Column views, or back again, caused no changes, nor did CMD-A to select all files.

But when I Option-dragged a file to copy it, it copied, then the window refreshed.

Meanhile, on the PC [they are both on the same desk], the folder windows updated instantly, every time a change was made. I haven't tried it the other way round, to see if Windows will update a shared OSX folder. I always connect to the PC from the Mac because that's faster on our network [less time waiting for the authentication stuff].

I think I'll just wait for the hoped-for Finder update, based on the revelation that FreeBSD has recently been updated [see above].

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osxpounder

Actually, doing a CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy files on the Windows side doesn't require this script to refresh from the Mac view. I tried this scenario, and for me Finder automatically refreshes the SMB shared folder contents when I click into it. So the script isn't even necessary for this scenario.