That's interesting. If I never fixed anything, how often would I need to reinstall? I'm currently considering turning off updates on Ubuntu and just reinstalling every time there's a new release. I'll probably switch to Windows, though, as I don't expect to code much on my home computers now that I'm no longer a student. Coding on windows is hell and the DE sucks, but windows is stable and has a lots of software available.
I use Debian stable, dist-upgrading only a few weeks after each release.
Kernel modules are the main things that deteriorate, mostly the GPU support. It's normally a matter of changing the kernel version (I freeze the kernel every time I remember about it) or removing some old package that isn't permitting a clean upgrade.
Last time I reinstalled a desktop was in 2007 (I had 3, now I only have 2), because a Windows machine got a virus at the same LAN, and I wanted to be sure it didn't get anywhere. Last time I reinstalled a laptop was during the setup of my new one, this year, because I got a pretty messed-up set of kernel packages, and decided it were easier to just start from scratch.
No idea. The thought of having something break, and not fixing it immediately, escapes me. A properly maintained Linux install goes down with the hardware. It was like that with Gentoo and my Thinkpad R40, then the X61T used various installs of Ubuntu, and now the X1 Carbon has the same sid install for a couple of years, and it will last a couple of years more.
Ubuntu solemnly annoyed me by botching every upgrade and forcing me to reinstall every half-year. It was window-esque...
