>"Remember when software didn't need updates almost every day? It seems like we've regressed in terms of quality and the general principle of doing it right the first time"
Keep in mind that the new environments for any pc now is interconnected, as such a mechanism to deliver fixes quickly is actually more a solution than a problem.
For reference, take a non patched xp, connect to the internet and search for "how to get thin while eating" and your system will automatically install a antivirus for you ;)
>"I prefer stability over "new features", turn off automatic updates, and read changelists carefully. Anything which doesn't have a good description and rationale of why it needs to be changed, and how that is relevant to my usage of the software, doesn't get changed."
for that you need to become an expert on anything become patched or updated.
second, it may be more about how someone else would use your system than you... as in an exploit.
> as such a mechanism to deliver fixes quickly is actually more a solution than a problem.
It's not a solution, it's an excuse for lazy testing.
Same as better hardware supported sloppyness in engineering, turning a 15MB CD/DVD burning software to 500MB+ software package (software starts with a "N").
> It's not a solution, it's an excuse for lazy testing.
While there does exist a pressure to push a product before enough testing is done, to say that everything that's wrong is all down to one "simple" fact is just trying to reduce a complex system into something simpler to understand, and then patting yourself on the back as having "solved" it.
"It's not a solution, it's an excuse for lazy testing."
How do you test absolutely everything? in all the environments? with every possible user?
On the other hand it can be also used as you mention and here I think about the software on calculators as the 12C... which probably could have a bug... that you can't fix.
Keep in mind that the new environments for any pc now is interconnected, as such a mechanism to deliver fixes quickly is actually more a solution than a problem.
For reference, take a non patched xp, connect to the internet and search for "how to get thin while eating" and your system will automatically install a antivirus for you ;)
>"I prefer stability over "new features", turn off automatic updates, and read changelists carefully. Anything which doesn't have a good description and rationale of why it needs to be changed, and how that is relevant to my usage of the software, doesn't get changed."
for that you need to become an expert on anything become patched or updated. second, it may be more about how someone else would use your system than you... as in an exploit.