The OS Armageddon Is Coming

It's an interesting article by a noted author, but the trend seems to be going the opposite way: Microsoft is getting more and more intrusive with each generation.

I few months ago I wiped Windows 10 off my system did a fresh install of Windows 7. My sanity level has increased significantly. Cardiologists around the world can rejoice... at least until the EOL of Windows 7.

This article makes it sound like the reason for forcing updates is so that everyone has the same latest and greatest features.

While that is useful, the reason for automatic updates is almost entirely security. Microsoft gets burned every time there’s some major exploit happening, even when it doesn’t impact current versions of their software. Everyone gets burned because of the millions of people who never update.

People complain about XP not being fixed anymore which is bogus: Microsoft did fix it, with the software releases of the last decade that people refuse to use.

It's a general problem with "progress". Things change. If you really want a solid system, build it around the IBM System/360-based architecture, which is designed for long-term robustness. However, a front-end to such a system could still be a buggaboo, as UI standards (and non-standards) change like the wind. A "green screen" terminal (emulator) front-end from the 70's would probably still work, but newbies will give you a funny look. Many of the barriers to long-term robustness are social in nature.