[kstrauser]

> how often does this appliance update? Once a year?

About once a month: http://www.synology.com/en-global/releaseNote/model/DS412+

Synology uses the same base distro across all their devices, so everyone gets updates at about the same time. The device emails me when a new software version is available.

I get what you're saying, but in this case it's totally wrong. They're very active about providing updates to add functionality (even to old systems!) and fix stuff.

So back to my original position: this is not an unreasonable thing to expect to be able to run on the Internet. It's a modern Linux box that gets monthly updates, designed with the explicit intention of providing secure services over the public Internet. It would absolutely suck if that proved not to be the case.