Those Warm Fuzzy Updates

I have a confession.

When I get a little pop up saying I have an update for a software program–I get a warm fuzzy.

I mean a really toasty warm fuzzy.

Why you ask? I ask why myself. Am I insane? Socially retarded beyond repair? Bored? Lonely?

I don’t think so. Well, maybe a little, but that’s for another day.

I thought it through and I think I have valid reasons for my warm fuzzy update feeling.

When I purchase something –when I ‘buy into it’- whether it be my Mac, or Final Cut Studio Pro, or my Linksys router (to which I just downloaded a 132MB update –I love dem bigunns) I didn’t just buy what was handed to me, I bought –or better- I made an investment in something that is an ongoing work of –dare I say it- Art. With my investment comes a mysterious invisible horde of elves furiously working away at bettering my purchase –updating, revising and improving my product, and consequently my life.

You see, when I get that update notification, it says something to me – actually it says a few things.

It says there’s hope.

That’s right. Hope. An update tells me no matter how good or bad the product is/was, an update says ‘it’s going to be better’.

So when I get updates for my iphone I think to myself, “How could this possibly get any better? This heavenly gadget already defies imagination and now you are telling me it’s going to get EVEN BETTER?!” Good lord, I get goosebumps at the thought of it.

It says ‘we care’.

The creators value my purchase and want to make it better for me. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you for not leaving me out in the cold with an ‘All sales are final’ sign dangling in my face.

Even security updates for my PC  (the PC which I have come to throw off like an old smelly suit since I have gone Mac) I appreciate. It’s like they are saying, “Look, we know we are totally giant beyond belief. We know we can never be cool like your Mac. We have become ‘the man’. But you know, all the little security updates –we don’t want the bad people coming in and messing with your stuff, so here’s a little update to make you just a little bit safer.”

So just when I am ready to toss off my PC with a sneer of contempt, I get a little update and I think, “Well…I guess they’re trying… they’re not so bad…”

It’s kind of like that overweight kid two houses down that you really didn’t like very much but he really liked you and always wanted to play. So you would play with him, (when none of your other friends were around of course) but you would be kind of mean, feel bad, and then hang out with him again next week (when everyone else was gone again, of course). That’s like my PC –annoying, quirky, but still with enough of a heart so I can’t quite toss it to the curb. Like my biggish friend. With oily skin.

But as for those updates-especially those Macbabies- keep ‘em coming.