mccJul 24, 2023

"With a software death date baked into each model, older versions of these inexpensive computers are set to expire three to six years after their release. Despite having fully functioning hardware, an expired Chromebook will no longer receive the software updates it needs, blocking basic websites and applications from use…

[Pictured] A pile of Chromebooks with expired software sit in a classroom at Montera Middle School in Oakland, Calif"

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/24/built-in-software-death-dates-are-sending-thousands-of-schools-chromebooks-to-the-recycling-bin/

Built-in software ‘death dates’ are sending thousands of schools’ Chromebooks to the recycling bin

Doubling the lifespan of older Chromebooks would save California’s schools $225 million, according to advocacy group CALPIRG.

The Mercury News
Show threadmhoyeJul 24, 2023
@mcc this should be illegal.
Show threadGabriel PettierJul 24, 2023

@mhoye @mcc yeah software maintenance is expensive, so when you sell for cheap, you certainly plan for shorter lifetime/support, to make the economics work. They could keep making the updates work for these models, but making it harder to develop features for newer ones, that are making money now.

Models being obsolete means code specific to them can be deleted, and newer code don't have to be compatible and tested on them.

Apparently users don't find the free software alternative suitable :/.

Show threadCassandrichJul 25, 2023
@tshirtman @mhoye @mcc Why is there any code specific to them that needs independent updating? Only hardware specific code should be kernel (Linux) which supports 30 year old hardware just fine. Userspace should not care whatsoever what hardware it's running on.
Show threadGabriel PettierJul 25, 2023
@dalias @mhoye @mcc well, drivers for one, if they are not open source/mainlined, need to be updated to be able to update the kernel, which can be necessary to apply security patches (unless of course you backport them, but i don’t think that’s generally easier), and support software that tends to come with commercial machines has to be aware of the hardware, of course, you would expect this to be handled in a natural way by the OS on a linux distro, but i don’t think that’s the case here.
Show threadCassandrichJul 25, 2023
@tshirtman @mhoye @mcc IOW because Google is doing stuff wrong.
Show threadGabriel PettierJul 25, 2023
@dalias @mhoye @mcc well, wrong from the point of view of an OSS/distro maintainer for sure, but surely it makes sense for them.
Show threadRon DeSantis's BDEJul 25, 2023

@tshirtman @dalias @mhoye @mcc

Also wrong from an environmental standpoint, of course. This isn't merely a "point of view" issue.

Show threadCassandrich
@DoesntExist @tshirtman @mhoye @mcc It's environmentally and socially "wrong" that a party with control over (or even any significant influence over) the software ecosystem has any incentive to prefer proliferation of new hardware over use of existing hardware.
Jul 25, 2023 at 5:55pmWeb