What I mean is: assume you use a software update system (Whether it's a "store", a "package manager" or just my own system I set up for one single app - it's irrelevant). The system needs to "phone home" to query what updates there are. There is no way around it. And unless you want to submit to a centralized store (Steam, a linux package repository, Windows store) then you are usually left to make the call individually for each app. And that applies regardless of OS of course. A self-updating linux app that dowloads its patch from acme inc is no different from the same app running under windows. It might be more or less idiomatic to do so for an individual app under different OS'es, but technically it's of course the same thing.