Howdy. I'm the guy who was responsible for testing WordPress 3.7 and ultimately turning automatic core updates off at WP Engine. I can assure you that there was a lot of internal discussion that happened before this decision was reached — and we did not come to it lightly.

While the auto update feature is definitely an exciting one that we would like to support in the future, we currently feel that the checkpoints we create before and after upgrades to WordPress core offer a better experience to our customers at this time.

Now, as I've alluded to before, this decision is by no means final. Even after WordPress 3.7 ships, I'll personally continue to look into allowing customers to turn at least automatic plugin & theme updates on. If they're feeling courageous, that is.

At the end of the day, if a feature conflicts with something we already do — and we feel is more advantageous to our customers — we'll have a serious discussion about it and go from there. We will never take a blanket "disable" stance on further improvements to WordPress core, however.

I hope that addresses some of your concerns, Sarah.