A simple protocol I'd like to see: let users throttle updates

Here's a simple protocol I'd like to see platform and application developers follow, every time they push a major new release: give users a 30 day option to revert to the prior release.

It's not fair to expect any company to support every last legacy version that may be one or another person's particular favorite. I'm not proposing that. Under the proposed protocal, users could only revert to the immediately prior release.

Call it giving users a "throttle" on the pace of updates.

Consider what a publisher might learn! Use of the throttle would effectively crowdsource a comparative usability analysis. Reviled "improvements" could be stripped from the product roadmap.

Foisting unwanted features on users is not one of those problems that can be solved by disclosure. Did Twitter let people know that one of its updates would introduce advertising into your mobile Twitter client? I don't think so. (I was looking for it.)

All those poor Apple map users.

Well, barring industry adoption of the user update throttle, I guess the simple lesson is: do not go gentle into update hype!

Photo: Leonard John Matthews / Flickr ("Photographed at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney").