It'll inure them to the cost, but it won't make it any cheaper.

On the other hand you could see it as simply spreading out the changes you would get from major updates every few years.

Incremental changes to the OS may only impose a small cognitive burden of adapting at any given time instead of presenting a seemingly insurmountable obstacle all at once.

Frog and a boiling pot of water.

Frogs try to jump out of boiling water. I understand you mean it metaphorically, but like the expression "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" it has no scientific basis.

I did assume that the reader is familiar with the metaphor irrespective of its truthfulness.

"Darmok and Jalad... at Tanagra."

Do you catch more flies with rotting flesh than with sterilised water?