I am on Google Chrome Dev Channel. That means I get updated builds of Chrome on a weekly basis.

I do not have to fetch them manually. It does not even tell me when a new build is available. It just does everything in the background.

Essentially, I end up on the latest edition of Chrome automatically without me doing anything about it.

I have read a lot of articles on the web criticizing this Google methodology. ‘Experts’ claim that Google should allow the user to block updates in case they do not want them. The best solution they say is an alert box which gives the user the choice to update or not.

Now, this is the exact method used by Mozilla Firefox and now Opera. I am ok with manual updates as well. Considering they do not require me to stop my browsing. Updates are downloaded in the background and installed on the next start.

I personally believe that for home users, auto updates in the background is the best way. I have seen people who would skip updating as they are either in a hurry or they just do not understand how important it is nowadays to stay up to date when it comes to critical applications like web browsers.

What do you think?