Yes, it is the only way to include a feature while still allowing it to update independently. But that requires the match rule to be set. I know some projects do this, so it should be working fine. I'm not sure about all the other match rules (and in particular, no match rule).
Having said that, many projects choose not to allow features to be updated independently. Version ranges are used on bundle dependencies and features are locked. The reason for this is so that if you provision the same version of the product twice, you get the same install. If you use feature ranges, then your install may not be deterministic. There has been a lot written on this, and a lot of different opinions, so I really don't want to revisit that. :-)
Cheers,
Ian
