Context:
I use framework parent themes (e.g. Thematic) mainly because it ensures that my custom themes inherit cutting-edge and standard compliant code.
Why I’m not yet using starter themes:
I’m reluctant to use starter themes (e.g. _s, Bones etc.) because, as I understand it, I’ll need to screen for code changes with every version update and then manually apply them to my custom theme. I’d rather
My question:
Is my understanding of the process of updating starter themes correct and if so, is it not less work to simply reverse engineer a parent theme once and have automated version updates rather than repeatedly manually (and perhaps tediously) having to update my custom starter theme?
You can enable child themes for any theme:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
If you want your parent theme based off another parent theme, for example you want a theme based off of Twitter bootstrap and apply any changes they make to your framework, without over-riding your changes, use revision control.
Git
Mercurial
etc.
What kind of updates are you talking about?
Your understanding is basically correct: if you make a theme from a starter theme, that theme won’t be automatically updated.
But depending on what kind of updates you’re talking about, your themes shouldn’t need to be updated every time a new version of WordPress is released. New versions of WP don’t make old themes instantly obsolete. I’ve been using my own fork of HTML5 Starkers for over 3 years now, and sites I wrote 3 years ago are still just fine, even in WP 3.5. I haven’t had to update the theme. Someday, I’m sure, the themes will start to have some problems, but websites generally have a short shelf-life anyway, and I make sure my clients understand that even if you don’t get an entirely new website every few years, most websites will need some maintenance every once in a while.