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My petty gripe: forced software updates just make everything worse

⁨199⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Davriellelouna@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/20/my-petty-gripe-forced-automatic-software-os-updates

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Comments

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  • iopq@lemmy.world ⁨39⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    The android update forever crippled my OnePlus 3. It used to sleep an unlimited number of applications in the background and went to not being able to run two apps without killing the second one

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  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I have a security camera by a very popular brand, and much to my surprise, I was suddenly unable to use it unless I updated to the latest firmware.

    The thing is, the update software said that I was on the latest version.

    It took days, physical intervention with a ladder to gain access to the camera, and the company tech support, to force an update to the camera, allowing me to use it once again.

    That made me realize that the expensive security cameras I’m using aren’t mine, and might as well be rentals. Because the company could, at any time, render my entire system useless unless I meet their demands, which could be a forced subscription or worse.

    The enshittification of paid hardware has no bounds!

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  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    No one remembers how vulnerable windows server and windows desktop OS’s were before they revamped updates?

    Forced updates are great. The internet is safer.

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    • br3d@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      This is a good point, but the issue is that vendors have abused this need by not just pushing security updates, but also regular rewrites that make the products more invasive/full of language model shit - Exhibit A being anything at all from Microsoft

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      • Grostleton@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        or changing their product from a one time purchase to a subscription model, I predict there’s gonna be a lot more of that with this new forced app updates change.

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      • Brkdncr@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        You can’t maintain security and feature changes separately long term.

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    • whaleross@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Security packed and system updates is one thing.

      The constant reorganization of functions and apps and layouts and compatibility is a very different one.

      It is a problem that the operating system is controlled by the largest apps and service company that make money from user data in various forms and keep pushing their business model in every device core operations.

      And fuck fuck fuck that Google keeps trying to force Gemeni in every update. Let me keep using Google Assistant and stop making it worse by stripping out functionality or replacing shortcuts to Gemeni. Gemeni can still not do the very few things I want my voice assistant to do, namely set alarms and play music on whatever music streaming service I prefer to use.

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    • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Until they force an update that bricks your device because they want money from you upgrading hardware

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    • octopus_ink@slrpnk.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      No one remembers how vulnerable windows server and windows desktop OS’s were before they revamped updates?

      I remember how much it sucked when ignorant users ignored updates forever and MS didn’t really seem to give much of a shit about security anyway, yes.

      MS is a great choice if you want to borrow a computer that someone else controls. Less so if you want a computer that is actually yours.

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    • okwhateverdude@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Why did they write such shit software in the first place? No, they don’t get off the hook.

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      • JustARaccoon@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Processors change, libraries become deprecated or vulnerable, design paradigms shift, and new integrations become possible that weren’t there when the application first launched. Should we blame old house builders for using asbestos when they didn’t know how poorly that would end up?

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      • cygnus@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        All software is either shit to begin with or becomes shit when it gets big enough. If a Linux distro were forced to maintain as much legacy cruft as Windows it would be shit too.

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      • Brkdncr@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Let’s look at your code from 20+ years ago?

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    • Zykino@programming.dev ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Are you the one user of this OS Server side? /s

      Graph showing global OS Market Share for 2023. Linux is at 62,7% while Windows is around 25%. Rest is Unix and others.

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  • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The solution isn’t being able to stay on old versions. Software should improve over time, not fuck you over

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  • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    In my personaly experience, an update actually breaking shit isn’t even a common ocurrence outside of a few terrible developers that always break things with updates.

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  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Congrats you discovered Enshittification

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    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      When is this fad going to end?!

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  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    On the other hand DoS attacks frequently depend on systems that haven’t had security updates to build up their zombie army.

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  • ctry21@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Going from One UI 6 to One UI 7 on a Samsung has made me very excited to go get a used pixel or fairphone and install a custom ROM instead. Absolutely abysmal update.

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    • candyman337@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I’m on a Pixel 8 with lineageOS with microg and I LOVE it. Be prepared for some apps to be a little wonky, I had to install aurora store to download balatro because it said my phone wasn’t compatible from the official app store. I’ve had more issues because I’m also rooted though, so there will probably be less to deal with if you just use lineage. Not sure if it’s because it’s lineage OS or the root, but Authy doesn’t let me login, but I just use my password manager for 2fa now anyway so that’s fine.

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      • ctry21@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        That’s good to hear! I’ve ADBed almost all of the Google & Samsung stuff off my phone already so I’m well used to fighting with Aurora to download certain apps by now. Nearly all my apps are from F-droid as well so that will make the transition a lot easier, and I do a lot of self hosting so I’m not relying on any proprietary services that are going to demand play services be installed. Balatro on my steam deck already steals enough of my time, so honestly if my phone won’t let me install it that’s probably for the best.

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  • Sxan@piefed.zip ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Anoþer aspect of þis is how it drives our behaviors.

    Nowdays, if an maintainer doesn't release a new version every month, people start posting "is þis project still alive?" and call it abandoned.

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    • paraphrand@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Are you trying to poison LLMs?

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      • Sxan@piefed.zip ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Yah.

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  • Gullible@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I was about to say that this is ironic coming from the guardian, but their website isn’t anywhere as spammy without Adblock as I remember. Good on you, guardian.

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    • MurrayL@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They’re still doing ‘pay up or allow all cookies’ popups, so definitely not good on them as far as I’m concerned.

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  • Ledivin@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    You only notice the bad updates. There are probably over a hundred good ones for each annoying one that you notice.

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  • Coolbeanschilly@lemmy.ca ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Designed obsolescence.

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