The problem with automatic patching over the long term is cruft. It also means bloat and all that jazz.

MS is perhaps king of backward compatibility--I have successfully run GWBasic from MS-DOS 3.1 on Vista (haven't tried it since then...) but that's some SERIOUS backward compatibility.

Unfortunately, many developers don't follow the published guidelines and things like SQL Server are constantly deprecating features.

Patching implies correcting errors in 1 version of the software and that's all well and good, MS's automatic approach is the correct one for Windows and .Net--but the sheer size of both makes guaranteeing a patch works on ALL hardware combinations and ALL drivers impossible. Most of the patching stories we hear about affect a small percentage of users. But a small percentage of a billion+ users adds up quick!

Personally I think the answer is vanilla development, but vanilla does not the vast crowd enthuse.

KISS, in other words. Avoid third party libraries and controls. Avoid the latest whiz-bang features that may not be around in a month's time, much less 5 years. Avoid long chains of services, especially third-party ones. Demand API contracts that WILL NOT CHANGE.

Of course that makes for some pretty tame software :unsure: but it *works*. Call it the "AK-47 design philosophy". Crude, plain, but capable of absorbing punishment that would leave other software a smoking ruin.

Then at least you have a chance of keeping it patched and operating. :laugh: