As I expected, lots of folks disagreed with my assertion that
too many updates are a bad thing. I agree that updates are essential
for some users, and would not suggest eliminating them. 
Still, there are many users for whom the only updates are new
releases of Windows. That happens once every couple of years,
and that is too often for some. We may look down our noses at 
such illiterati, but they still represent the bulk of the consumer market.
What I would like to see is a level of ease-of-use closer to that 
offered by Windows. I just bought a copy of RedHat 8.0 to upgrade
from 7.2, but I suspect I will have to start from the disk partition
step and repeat the entire install and configuration process, which
is much harder than with Windows, even if you know what you're doing.
I know I could upgrade the kernel and each little piece every time
a bulletin comes out about some new security vulnerability, but not
every update is necessary and its a pain in the @$$ to be tinkering
with all the time. Its like having a car that needs a tune-up three
times a week. I think RedHat and the other major commercial
distros have the right idea, but just don't go far enough. Maybe
I should just stop whining and accept the fact that using any OS
is a recipe for exponentially increasing complexity. That's why
we get the big bucks, right? ;-)
--
Phil Mattison
Ohmikron Corp.
480-722-9595
602-820-9452 Mobile