I agree with this. Good software updates that I've resisted in the past have often surprised me at how much I prefer them once I acclimate to them. The alterna

I agree with this. Good software updates that I've resisted in the past have often surprised me at how much I prefer them once I acclimate to them. The alternate line of thinking, that nothing big about the UI or system can ever change unless a customer specifically asks for it, seems to conveniently pop up in teams with enormous technical debt that make big changes unthinkable for managers. I'm guessing this is the case for QuickBooks - given the years they've spent supporting an inconsistent system, apparently with a goal of preventing it from becoming consistent, while also inserting customer-requested features. I have a hunch that if you're afraid of inconveniencing customers by making the software better, then the real problem is that you're afraid users won't stick around, and it's because you think that you haven't taken good enough care of them to weather the bump of re-acclimation. Compare the unchanging-system strategy to Snapchat's. Snapchat regularly improves their software (and users complain about it until they re-acclimate), because they are confident that users will stick around through updates; this confidence comes from the fact that they know they do a good job serving their users. So, my hunch is that when this unchanging-system strategy emerges, it's likely because you've already spent a long time disappointing users and eroding customer confidence.