[jacquesm]

It's stuff like this that has an indirect effect that is much more serious than the change itself.

Not all that long ago there was a thread here about 'why those bloody end users don't keep their systems up-to-date'. Well, there you have it: because they never just get the fixes, they also get all kinds of other junk rammed down their throats, if such an upgrade does not break their systems entirely. And so the end-users get wise and stop updating their systems, resulting in systems that are then wide open to malicious parties.

I feel that I'm pretty tech savvy and in spite of that I've got a hard time clicking the 'upgrade' button next to my browser for that exact reason, it's a toss-up if it will actually do something useful for me or if it will cause me no end of misery to try to restore the situation back to working after a failed update.

I'd need a couple of extra hands to count the number of times where an update to an otherwise perfectly functioning system caused it to break and in some cases that in turn led to a complete re-install.

In tech we even have a meme for that: "If it isn't obviously broken, don't fix it!".

[Programmatic]

You raise an extremely good point that describes my feelings lately perfectly.

How do HN folks manage the inevitable change in and monetization of popular and useful products?

I'm having serious heartburn consuming updated products (e.g. Win 10 and FireFox). It seems that the forced dichotomy is Control, Ease of use, Features within 3 years: Pick two. I had been really happy with my customized FireFox and locked down Windows 7 from the control and usefulness standpoint but FF has been taking liberties that parent notes and Windows has a "new direction" than the standalone value they provided with Win 7. Now it feels like they're yanking the rug out, and constantly evaluating the large amount of technology I rely on is tiring.

[batou]

I'm right there now. I just simplified everything by going back and looking for the technological singularity where everything just worked.

This is a really hard and uncomfortable thing after years of convenience along the same lines of going back to CDs after using mp3s but it's worth it.

[Programmatic]

Hah. I actually am very happy with my music solution (for now). I buy CDs and rip them with iTunes to MP3 on my media PC to a network drive, and then manually sync my phone. I can play it on anything by opening a folder.

The UI is essentially put in CD, wait, have music, and sync phones occasionally.

What is your current setup that you're happy with?

[batou]

My entire outlay is now a single laptop running CentOS 7, a desktop as a backup machine if I kill the laptop, some earphones, a dumbphone and a USB stick and USB mp3 player in the car. I rsync the USB stick for the car periodically and that is it.

As for everything else, browser is Firefox still (ick) and the only services I use are an IMAP box and domain.

I gave up music on my phone, contact sync, email on my phone, navigation, everything. A simpler life seems to be better for me.

[jacquesm]

I built my own music player / music library after I got sick of lugging around my CD collection with every move.

[eterm]

Your browser updates anyway, the "click to restart to get the new version" just initiates a restart. You'll get the new version next time you close and re-open anyway.

[jacquesm]

The hell it doesn't. No software on my computers runs unless I want it to.

[eterm]

By default, the installations of Chrome and Firefox do this. You choose to configure it otherwise, but this is their normal behaviour.