On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 06:00:50PM +0100, Philip Hands wrote: > I have been told by several newbies that the "updates available" > notification, and them subsequently following the prompts to update > their own system, was the first time they'd ever felt like they were in > charge of a computer, rather than the other way around. > > I presume that Gnome upstream has since decided that the notification > was untidy, or some such, since I recently noticed one such user who has > seen no notifications since upgrading to jessie, and was therefore no > longer keeping up with updates. > > How depressing. On the other hand I don't see why I, as a user, need to care about the constant churn of updates myself. Why do I have to spend brain cycles on that? What are my options? Am I going to inform myself on each and every update (which is what I do - out of curiosity - for every Windows update)? Option a): I don't update because I don't feel comfortable doing the decision. That's the approach I have seen with Windows users. "The update might break something, it's better to wait everything out until someone forces me to do something." Consequence: Missing security updates. Option b): I don't update because I know it might break me. The hold-out only works for so long. I might hold back parts of Gnome because I don't like the changes. I will soon be forced to force-feed myself with the new update because something depends on it. Helps if you temporarily want to avoid a bug for a week or two. Only works for expert users or for high-profile bugs with high PR. Consequence: Misery delayed, not avoided. Option c): I am curious to see the list of updates and accept all updates anyhow. Consequence: Occasional breakage - potentially correlatable, up-to-date system, brain cycles spent on things that might be better spent elsewhere. Option d): I just go with the flow and accept all updates silently. Consequence: Occasional breakage - not necessarily correlatable, up-to-date system. Kind regards Philipp Kern
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