[tkrunning]

This is definitely true. What I'm referring to in the article is cases when you've done a proper update of the article to make sure it's up to date, added new information, etc.

I actually hope Google will start comparing versions of articles before/after date updates, and penalize those that update the date without updating the content.

[bfdm]

And while I appreciate good updated content, I still insist that the _publish_ date should not change. In your case, the publish date ought to be many years ago. The _updated_ date, however, may be re-written with those refreshes. Content should include both (when applicable) and indexes should reflect this.