Sweet Jesus, when are these guys going to understand that I want to be able to turn off automatic updates completely and forever. I'm fine if my computer melts and explodes if I didn't get the update, but let me do it on my own schedule permanently!
I understand your point and motivation completely. And I agree...
However in today's world if you expose an unpatched "anything" to the internet then it is very possible that it will be discovered and eventually used to (silently) do things you don't want. Think DDOS farms, illegal software distribution etc...
What is the middle ground? I don't think there is one. We need to have reliable, automatically updated OSes which don't suck and , much more importantly, run the applications we need.
A car parks outside and there's a knock at your door. Before you can even get up you hear the first shouting: "FBI OPEN UP!" Your door disappears, instantly replaced by a cloud of dust. You start to get up and the agent raises his automatic rifle, pointed at your head. You slowly sit back down. Another agent swiftly moves behind you and applies the handcuffs. "W-what's going on?" you stammer. "You were hacking the NSA" says the agent. "N-no I wasn't! What the hell!" The agent carries you out the door. "Should've enabled updates."
You can't advocate for people to be responsible for everything that happens on their computer and also advocate for being able to disable updates. That combination makes you a top-level felon completely at random and outside of your control. If your computer will be hacked (there is no can be hacked, only will be hacked), you'd best not be responsible. If you're responsible, it best not be hackable.
I won't, as I don't take responsibility for someone stealing my street legal classic car, which is parked on the street right now without any special anti-theft device, and using it to run over you.
If someone takes over my computer, I'm the victim as much as you. You can't force your security standards on me, just as you can't prohibit people from connecting an arbitrary version of Windows, Linux or MacOS to the Internet just because it could inconvenience you.
Who decides whether a computer is "unpatched"? What patches are needed? To all running software? To system software? What is system software?
What about patches that bring new features that introduce new vulnerabilities? Can I claim I didn't want the update because I was concerned about the new AI thingy introducing EVEN more security issues and turning my reasonably secure, mostly patched, computer into your "loaded gun"?
