Help Noob questions

[dougouk]

Hi, I just got my captivate yesterday, and I want to upgrade to 2.3 gingerbread from the 2.2 froyo.
So I came across this site, and I dun understand 90% of what you guys are saying... And I couldn't find good sources to teach me either. So let me ask here,

1. What does flashing do?
2. Rooting - I know that it gives you more "privileges", but why do you need more privileges? And do you need it to upgrade to 2.3 gingerbread?
3. What does ROM stand for?
4. Do you have to flash to go to upgrade to 2.3 from 2.2?
5. If you guys have any good sources on how to upgrade from 2.2 to 2.3, please share =D the ones I found aren't that great.

 

[davep13]

1. Flashing basically installs new software on your phone(ROMs, mods, etc)
2. Rooting is required for certain apps like Titanium Backup and should you still be on stock AT&T ROM then, it can be used to freeze AT&T bloatware. TB can be essential if you wanna flash a new ROM since you can backup and restore with it.
3. ROM- Read only memory
4. Yes it's the only way I think, unless you wait for an official AT&T update that is done through Kies mini.
5. Search MobileTechVideos on Youtube for some pretty good tutorials and information. Also check out XDA forums.

Hope that helps