Are you an update addict?

[psycosmyth]

I have noticed for some time that in the open community the push to have the latest and greatest is alive and growing. If you have used Gentoo you know that Emerging is as common as a left-click. Windows is constantly updating something. Most Linux distros are set up to check for updates by default. Is software that buggy? I have to admit, I have been beating my hd with lots of new distros and the like. I setteled on Bianca KDE because I like it. I tried Dream but it crashed with each update, so did Gutsy, Sabayon and so on. There are some distros still using the 2.4 kernel and it feels wierd to even try them. So, are we obsessed with progress or is this the path we must take to develop our software?
When is good enough enough?

[Husse]

Are we to discuss philosophy?
I think we could easily get into an endless debate
Hardware gets better > software gets better to use the hardware and "runs ahead" > hardware gets better.........

[exploder]

When is good enough enough?

It is called continuous improvement. What we call the "latest greatest" today will seem like the age of the dinosaurs ten years from now.

[psycosmyth]

oh yes...Kaizen
Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and improvements just make things worse. I no longer have a cell phone, I feel just fine. We do need to improve but the exponential pattern or "law" does not coincide with human evolutionary development. My 65 year-old truck is more dependable than my late model car. In our Linux world for example, we laugh at MS Vista's wonderful doodads because we have used them if not wrote them years ago.
I don't mean that everyone should stop and be happy, I personally adapt to change quickly and enthusiastically. I just think some people can't enjoy what they have long enough to appreciate the future. My personal plight. I am trying to watch the world with patient and caring eyes. You would be scared
to death at what you might see, I am.

[Cor]

well psycosmyth if you try to make improvements you have to take chances and sometimes it won't work out but you learned (hopefuilly most people do) something and therefore you already improved. The question or the way how to see it is quite philosophical I admit.
For software updates I'm in so far update "addicted" as long as security is concerned! For the rest well as long as it works and there is nothing added which may be interesting to work with I usually like to stay with the one I got (Never change a running system )
I do agree that some people can't really value what they have and never take a breath to see what has been accomplished or even to take a step back and see what the urge to get more and more independent on technology is doing to humanty. But then if you lean back and see what is going in the world you quickly realize a lot of madness there... but I'm getting off topic, sry...

[psycosmyth]

Cor, I think you see what I mean
The simple reflection of achievement can fuel progress. Hey, I watch the History channel OK

[exploder]

Very interesting discussion. I like the examples given here. The example of the old car was a fine example and I can relate to it very well!
I can relate this to Linux as well. I enjoy using the latest. greatest as far as security updates. Often a security update makes the system more secure and fixes a memory leak, so the system is improved.
However with Gnome, 2.18.1 makes better use of system memory than 2.20.0. The difference in the two is not worth it to me right now to update Gnome. Currently my system uses 94.2 MB of RAM at start up. If I use Gnome 2.20.0 the same system uses over 230 MB of memory at start up.
I experiment with new kernels quite often too. So far I have found that the kernel is often faster and better with each release. The new cfs kernels for example, increase graphics card speeds by 20%.
I guess that all in all, I would have to consider myself an update addict.