OSX 10.4.6 Update General Comment

Question

All,
It's obvious that something is wrong with the OSX 10.4.6 update via software update on a number of computers. There are numerous cries for help here all posted in the past couple of days. My Quicksilver crashed, my laptop has not. I appreciate the time and effort of all the responders and hopefully I'll be able to resolve my Quicksilver's gray screen and spinning icon problem on startup when I get my Tiger Family Pack disks.
Something important needs to be communicated to Apple. Many of the experts have said users need to do this or that thing before or after an update, as if it is our fault as consumers of Apple's products that we don't have arcane knowledge. I bought my first Apple in 1985 precisely because I did not want to have to know insider tricks to achieve functionality. I want to write, design, create - not be a system administrator.
If the suggestions being offered are so critical to avoiding crashes and system freezes and the penalty could be total loss of data, then Apple needs to engineer these precautionary steps directly into the update. We should be prompted and led through the necessary steps - or preferably they should be automated right into the software update/installation process.
It's great to be so knowledgeable you can help, but sometimes we should step back and question the big picture. The big picture here is that Apple is remiss in designing a system that is subject to corruption during updates. If there are things we must avoid doing during an update these things can, should, and must be addressed by Apple prior to and as part of the update process.
Regards,
Dirk
G4 Silver   Mac OS X (10.4.6)   stock with extra ram

Answer 1

I can only reply with a real world example. My son (23) runs a G4 Dual 450. He never uses disk utility, never repairs permissions, never performs any kind of system maintenance. The machine is on 24/7. He accepts whatever the Software Update panel offers whenever it offers it. And yet he has no problems. He updated to 10.4.6 when it first appeared in Software Update and is running like a champ. He has god-only-knows how many third party gizmos installed too.
I, on the other hand, am almost obsessive-compulsive about system maintenance, running TechTool Pro once a week, disk utility once per week, repair permissions, etc. I have never had any problems with Panther or Tiger in almost two years now.
I can't explain why some have problems while others don't. At work most everyone else is a Windows user and the same things happen. While some are always talking about how this-or-that happened and hosed their computer others say that they never have any problems and that Windows XP is rock solid for them.
The plain reality is that this technology is stupendously, mind-bendingly complicated. Computer makers have been trying for over thirty years now to make them bullet-proof devices like turning on a radio. It ain't happened yet and I don't think it ever will. In my opinion Apple has come the closest to doing it but as long as people keep clamoring for more features and less cost the technology will continue to get even more complicated. Personal computers will never be like toasters. They will always require a fairly high level of knowledge and experience to operate and maintain until the day comes when the device on your desktop is simply a terminal and everything is handled by an online system somewhere that is run by professionals. That day is coming sooner than anyone thinks too.
Dual 2.5GHz G5 Power Macintosh   Mac OS X (10.4.6)   1.5GB RAM 20" Apple Cinema Display