But that's the problem... this isn't a reasonable expectation. I get that everybody wants their software to feel like magic nowadays, but a more realistic expec

But that's the problem... this isn't a reasonable expectation. I get that everybody wants their software to feel like magic nowadays, but a more realistic expectation is that programmers are human, software is buggy, and things are going to break every now and then. If there's any chance that this breakage is going to be a problem for a user, then developers of the app (and the operating system!) should really be providing some way for the user to take preventive measures. This can even be done automatically, but it needs to be a little more robust than an "app updates shouldn't wipe user data" guideline. This is one of the reasons you're not going to see tablets replace desktops/laptops with real operating system in the business environment any time soon.