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My memory is that ChromeOS defaults to aggressively auto-updating itself, where macOS and Windows both remind / pester / offer to defer. So greener than evergre

My memory is that ChromeOS defaults to aggressively auto-updating itself, where macOS and Windows both remind / pester / offer to defer. So greener than evergreen?

kevingadd 9y ago
With how often serious bugs ship to Chrome release channel, I don't think evergreen is implicitly a good thing in the OS that drives my computer, especially if it's my work PC. If you look through the chromium issue tracker you can also find multiple bug reports where people were struggling to get their chromebooks to update to the latest release, because auto-update had broken. Some of those people were Google employees.
- jacksmith21006 9y ago
  Been involved with many Chromebooks and never had a single issue with any updating. It just happens completely transparently. Chromebooks have two boot partitions. So one updates while you are using the other. You then just pick up the update all ready to go next time you boot. You have zero idea that your laptop even updated.
nikanj 9y ago
Windows today installs updates automatically and reboots when it's the least convenient. For a normal user, it's near-impossible to make it stop, and most people just grudgingly accept the lost work and ruined movie nights. You can google for a solution, but that solution only works on last year's version, the professional edition, or similar.
- PuffinBlue 9y ago
  > Windows today installs updates automatically and reboots when it's the least convenient I thought that was how it worked too having just switched back to having to use windows. But you can pick a time of your choice and specify a day up to about 5 days in the future or something, so it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Coming from Linux it still an annoying difference between the operating systems but not as bad as people tend to make out.
  - on_and_off 9y ago
    I can confirm that in my case windows installed an update without asking me at the worst possible moment. It took a while to install and the only visible change (I am sure there were bugfixes as well) was the automatic installation of Edge & Cortana. I don't know whether it was a bug or planned but it was very agressive.
  - will_hughes 9y ago
    > But you can pick a time of your choice and specify a day up to about 5 days in the future or something, so it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Only if you catch it while it's prompting. I've seen people set up for a meeting/presentation/etc, test everything's working and then walk away from their computer to grab a drink. In that time, Windows has popped up a "Hey, we're going to perform updates" dialog which if you don't catch it before it disappears, becomes uncancellable/undeferrable. Depending on the update (eg Creators Edition) it then spends the next 20-45 minutes with the entire machine being unusable. I've seen many panicky tweets from people who're about to give a talk in an hour or two that they've just opened their laptop and it's resumed into the dreaded "Oh, we're just updating now!" screen.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > But you can pick a time of your choice and specify a day up to about 5 days in the future or something, so it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. OTOH, when you do that there is no confirmation button on the UI, and the button placed and styled the way users expect a confirmation button to be is a “do the upgrade right now instead of at the time I just selected” button, so all is not roses and sunshine.

My memory is that ChromeOS defaults to aggressively auto-updating itself, where macOS and Windows both remind / pester / offer to defer. So greener than evergreen?

kevingadd 9y ago

With how often serious bugs ship to Chrome release channel, I don't think evergreen is implicitly a good thing in the OS that drives my computer, especially if it's my work PC. If you look through the chromium issue tracker you can also find multiple bug reports where people were struggling to get their chromebooks to update to the latest release, because auto-update had broken. Some of those people were Google employees.

jacksmith21006 9y ago
Been involved with many Chromebooks and never had a single issue with any updating. It just happens completely transparently. Chromebooks have two boot partitions. So one updates while you are using the other. You then just pick up the update all ready to go next time you boot. You have zero idea that your laptop even updated.

nikanj 9y ago

Windows today installs updates automatically and reboots when it's the least convenient. For a normal user, it's near-impossible to make it stop, and most people just grudgingly accept the lost work and ruined movie nights. You can google for a solution, but that solution only works on last year's version, the professional edition, or similar.

PuffinBlue 9y ago
> Windows today installs updates automatically and reboots when it's the least convenient I thought that was how it worked too having just switched back to having to use windows. But you can pick a time of your choice and specify a day up to about 5 days in the future or something, so it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Coming from Linux it still an annoying difference between the operating systems but not as bad as people tend to make out.
- on_and_off 9y ago
  I can confirm that in my case windows installed an update without asking me at the worst possible moment. It took a while to install and the only visible change (I am sure there were bugfixes as well) was the automatic installation of Edge & Cortana. I don't know whether it was a bug or planned but it was very agressive.
- will_hughes 9y ago
  > But you can pick a time of your choice and specify a day up to about 5 days in the future or something, so it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Only if you catch it while it's prompting. I've seen people set up for a meeting/presentation/etc, test everything's working and then walk away from their computer to grab a drink. In that time, Windows has popped up a "Hey, we're going to perform updates" dialog which if you don't catch it before it disappears, becomes uncancellable/undeferrable. Depending on the update (eg Creators Edition) it then spends the next 20-45 minutes with the entire machine being unusable. I've seen many panicky tweets from people who're about to give a talk in an hour or two that they've just opened their laptop and it's resumed into the dreaded "Oh, we're just updating now!" screen.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > But you can pick a time of your choice and specify a day up to about 5 days in the future or something, so it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. OTOH, when you do that there is no confirmation button on the UI, and the button placed and styled the way users expect a confirmation button to be is a “do the upgrade right now instead of at the time I just selected” button, so all is not roses and sunshine.