Updating …

The other day, when I started the computer I received a notification that a one of the programs I use to keep the computer working smoothly needed an update. I clicked on the link to the update, downloaded it, and installed it, only to find the file I just downloaded was actually the same version I already had. The update server had forgotten to update the update. Every time I pick up my “smart” phone, some program or other needs to update, effectively rendering my phone useless. I spend more time updating the various software components on my many blogs then POSTING in them … and then fixing them since the updates invariably break something.

As one may guess from the previous paragraph, I am not really a fan of updates.

This is not just a long overdue rant (this blog is full of ’em), I have a point to ma

ke.

Grrrrrrrrr. Can’t even finish a post!!

The point is this. Why are we in such a hurry to “improve” things all the time. I am about as far from conservative as one can get in most ways, but I am a firm believer in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I am all for progress. I just don’t see a lot of progress in sending things out before they are ready (or even needed), only to have to repeatedly fix them because we rushed them out. A significant portion of updates are updating another update to fix the errors in the error fix. Seriously folks, what’s the rush? Maybe if we took the time to do things right in the first place, we wouldn’t have to constantly “fix” things. And, like the speeding car that flits in and out of traffic, passing us dangerously only to be stopped by the same light we are, it really does not get us there (whatever “there” may be) any faster.

Maybe if we focused on improving for the sake of actual progress rather than for profit, we would slow down just a tad.

This silly little rant brought to you by the letter U.