On Planet Windows — and even Planet Macintosh — upgrades to your computer’s operating system are deliberate things. You obtain the upgrade, you install it. The operative part of the phrase is “you.” Yes, you are the doer. With your Android device, you are merely a passive observer.

Android is an operating system, but very few Android device users actually use what’s called stock Android. No, the version of Android you’re using has been put through the wringer, either by the device’s manufacturer, by the cellular provider, or both.

Stock Android is what Google produces. On some devices, such as the Nexus phones and tablets, what you see is as close to pure Android as possible. Every other device, however, has added some bells and whistles.

Some Android devices, such as anything from Samsung, have another layer added. Specifically, it’s called a skin or User Interface (UI), and it sits on top of Android. On Samsung, it’s called TouchWiz. HTC calls their UI Sense. These skins add new features to Android, customize things, move things around, and generally keep everyone on their toes.

My point to all this is to explain that an Android software update isn’t something you can go out and get. You can’t force an upgrade by visiting the Settings app and checking for an upgrade. That trick is actually rather futile, come to think of it.

So what Google does is to create a new Android operating system. The current release is called KitKat. I can’t figure out whether it’s Kit Kat or Kitkat or something else, but the release number is 4.4. (And version 4.4.1 was just sent out.)

Once Google releases a new Android version, the manufacturers pick it up and attempt — all on their own — to customize it toward their hardware. They are under no obligation to do so. Further, they don’t have to upgrade anything, including older hardware, existing hardware, or planned hardware. Again, that’s kind of the Windows/Mac OS X type of thinking.

So if you have an older Android device, it may never see an Android OS upgrade. In fact, you may not see Android Kitkat for any existing Samsung phone or tablet. Samsung may just wait and introduce new hardware that runs Kitkat. Or they may sit out Kitkat and wait for Lemonhead or whatever the next version of the OS will be nicknamed.

Bottom line: When it comes to upgrading your Android OS, you’re definitely not in the driver’s seat.