Friday, 13 February 2015

DON'T IGNORE THAT UPDATE NOTIFICATION ON YOUR SMARTPHONE OR DEVICE


Mimidoo and Hembafan are smartphone freaks. They are young adults who love to use high-end smartphones. Mimidoo uses a BlackBerry Passport while Hembafan uses a HTC One (M8). The following conversation ensued between Mimidoo and Hembafan.

Mimidoo: I hate these updates notification I keep seeing on my BB. If it’s not ‘updates available for BBM,” it’d be “updates available for Whatsapp or PicMix”. Babe, (referring to Hembafan) do you often get these updates notification too?

Hembafan: I do get them too. The annoying thing is that even after you update the apps, you don’t see any changes in their features or functions. At most you see a few new smileys after updating the BBM. In fact I've updated the WhatsApp app on my phone twice but I didn’t notice any new feature or function.

From the conversation above, it can be deduced that there is a misunderstanding among many users of smartphones and users of computers/computer-like devices who are routinely required to install updates for softwares (apps) and operating systems (OS) installed on their devices (smartphones, computers etc.)

Updates aren't necessarily meant to introduce new features/functions for apps or operating systems. Assuming you buy a car and install an anti-theft security system in the car and after six months the security company that installed the system discovers a flaw or fault in the system to the effect that if urine touches the alloy wheels of the car, the anti-theft security system would be disabled and the company offers to fix the flaw free of charge, won't you allow them to fix the flaw? Or according to Justin Pot in “How & Why You Need To Install That Security Patch”:
Pretend you bought a security system for your house, because you need to protect an extremely valuable diamond. Two years after the system is set up, the company that installed it for you notices a flaw: criminals who clap three times while bouncing on one leg cannot be detected. If the company that installed your security system offered to fix this vulnerability, free of charge, would you let them? Of course you would. Think of patches (updates) the same way.


To understand what updates do and why the next time you get that update notification on your device you SHOULD NOT ignore it click HERE

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