Why you should upgrade (on your own terms)

TidBITS:

We’re heading into Apple’s annual upgrade season again, with the upcoming releases of OS X 10.11 El Capitan, iOS 9, and watchOS 2, along with innumerable associated apps. Every upgrade is touted as the next best thing, teasing us with hot new features and promising improved performance, reliability, and security.

Unfortunately, these constant upgrades fill many people with dread, or if that’s overstating the case, with weary resignation. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but most changes foisted on us by technology companies are no longer aimed at fixing bugs or making everyday usage easier. Bugs are fixed, certainly, and security vulnerabilities blocked, but those under-the-hood improvements are part and parcel with checklist features from the perky twenty-somethings in Marketing and whatever visual tweaks were deemed trendy by the hipsters in Design.

I know many of you are tempted to scream, “Stop this bus! I want to get off!”

Adam makes some great points. I’ve long since stopped upgrading immediately, simply for the sake of upgrading. I wait to make sure the release, Apple’s or anyone else’s, is stable enough and provides enough value for my liking. Certainly, there are some updates and upgrades you must do right away but, for the most part, I wait until I need to update and know what I’m updating to and for.