Comment by xingped
3 days ago
Yep, this 100%. When I see a "pending update" notification or icon somewhere, the first thing I think is "I don't want to update, they're just going to break something new". I _hate_ updates now. Doesn't matter what software it is, with the small exception of video games. (Except Dead By Daylight. Behavior, the devs, are the most hilariously incompetent devs on the planet, but at least their incompetence is confined to their own game.)
The only software I've been excited about an update for in years has been games, that seems like the only category where devs actually add features people are excited about. For example, the latest KCD2 patch added a fun but brief new quest [0].
Not universal though. Besides your example, even for single player games patches can be basically malicious. I've had Fallout 4 locked on updates for like 3 years at this point, everything Bethesda has added has degraded the experience for zero upside. But I can't think of any software besides a game where I have been anything but dreading an update in years. Slack wants to update? Great, it'll probably break/degrade my work flow in some minor way, and they're one of the lesser offenders on my work machine.
[0] https://steamdb.info/patchnotes/23914554/
Lots of games’ updates break popular mods, introduce launchers and/or break linux compatibility and/or online mode, remove music with expired licenses, censor something and increase system requirements.
Sadly we’re way past the point where games became like all the other software in that regard
This would be less of a problem if patches are something you still installed deliberately - instead we have to fight Steam to let us play the games we already have a working install of.
I think games are the exception because they are
* relatively small purchases
* paid for directly by the user
* expected to be enjoyable
Most other software fails at least one of those tests, reducing the ability to shop around and make an informed decision.
We can't change the fact that commercial OS vendors are all feudal overlords now, but the lawmakers are letting them get away with it and that is something we might still be able to change.
2 replies →
> * paid for directly by the user
hahahahah. Games are steering further and further to this not being true. Where each player explicitly doesn't pay for it, and instead they contain an increasing series of dark patterns in order to steer players to fleece their money in a series of microtransactions.
2 replies →
I really look forward to new Fedora releases.
I really look forward to Pop OS updates... but it's because they broke a bunch of stuff and stripped most apps down to their basics.
4 replies →
> The only software I've been excited about an update for in years has been games
I don't. The only thing i want to see when i want to play is: Please wait, downloading update.
KCD2 is number 1 of a small number of updates I am excited about.
Maybe this is because video games can always add more features. Realistically, what useful feature could even be added to Word? I want to write text. It lets me write text. Program done. I dont see why Word would ever need an update other than maintenance or a security patch.
I remember when OS vendors shipped à la carte patches. You could pick the ones you wanted (to some extent).
you can still do it: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=windo...
hopefully it doesn't get removed.
Factorio or Minecraft change things every update.
I don't play those, but I know at least with games like those, where players like to play on specific versions, there's usually ways to stay on a specific version without too much hassle.
I stopped with Microsoft buying minecraft. But before that they didn't change but add things.
I can't remember a single time I was disappointed because something changed.
Microsoft purchase was during 1.8. large-scale terrain structure completely changed in 1.7. 1.5 completely changed the redstone meta. 1.4 completely changed the villager meta as you could now zombify and cure villagers and more changed meta because beacons existed. 1.3 added villager trading, making mining obsolete for some people. 1.3 also overhauled the internal structure of singleplayer so that you can have network latency in singleplayer. 1.2 increased the world height, making your max height builds no longer impressive. Beta 1.8 added hunger so you can't just exist indefinitely, and endermen who aggressively stole blocks in that version. Beta 1.6 fixed several fun glitches.
At least Minecraft is generally additive as opposed to mucking up the previously working mechanics.
(This of course is excluding things like the big “Flattening” of data structures that happened around 1.13 or so)
The post-Microsoft meta is that glitches are valid game mechanics. TNT duping has been in the game longer than Notch controlled the game. But some other glitches get fixed.
12 replies →