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on OS updates and breakage

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urlwolf:
When using windows, I never think twice about accepting updates.
Worst case, I have to reboot.

But on linux, I don't know anyone that doesn't pause before accepting suggested updates.
Linuxes break things with updates. Mind you not only kernel updates... minor, unrelated things.

I just lost ssh. Was it an update? Who knows... but, is Linux really a superior, more reliable tech? I cannot say this with a straight face. It's extremely fragile...

Thoughts?

Josh:
That is one of the major flaws holding linux back in the desktop market. Yes, it comes with just about every command line tool built in along with different modules and dependencies, but with those dependencies comes risks. Some apps require a certain version and upgrading an existing library can cause that app to break. This is one of the many heartbreaks I face with securing our linux based servers I work on.

Deozaan:
I updated Ubuntu recently and it broke the bootloader or something. When I try to boot into it it says I need to load the kernel first. I thought I was trying to load the kernel by telling my machine to boot into Ubuntu?

So I erased it all and did a fresh install and then downloaded updates again and it still won't let me boot into the latest Ubuntu kernel. Not even for recovery mode.

I'm not very experienced with linux, but my little experience with Ubuntu leads me to agree with you.

jgpaiva:
I've used windows for 10-15 years and I can't remember having any problem with an update breaking anything.
I've been using ubuntu for about a year now and I've had two or three minor problems with updates (the most recent I recall was with the sound getting messed up). However, those got fixed with the next update (which didn't take more than a few days). I also had a few problems with software incompatibilities (specially with compiz+multiple monitors), and those didn't get fixed up to today, afaik.

On the other hand, I've found ubuntu's forums to be very responsive, and I've seen genuine interest in getting bugs fixed from the bugtracker. Unfortunately, IMO there's a lack of manpower and will to fix the annoying bugs, even if they look as simple fixes.

In conclusion, I think with Windows you get other kind of guarantees. Although linux will get you the cutting-edge, up-to-date technology with constant support in some stuff, it'll only be on the stuff that the developers find interesting to fix, since most don't think from a user point of view.

@Deozaan: yep, the most recent version of Ubuntu moved to a new bootloader (or was it just an update of grub? can't remember) and it also broke my instalation, I had to reinstall. AFAIK, that problem was fixed with an update launched the following day, though.

housetier:
Last time I lost something it was my own fault.

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