@mastosalo I mean, I speak partially tongue-in-cheek in that. Still, you can get a lot running but it just isn't really worth it at that point. Saving old hardware is a plus, but I just don't think using a 2003 system for 2026 software is worth doing.

(Now, running retro stuff on it is a different story, but then that would be obsolete by definition — just still useful.)

But I don't really truly disagree with your point. As I said, it was partially tongue in cheek.

@realSiegfried @mastosalo The only requirement Windows 11 has over its predecessor is TPM 2.0, which is so arbitrary and meaningless and unrelated to the actual hardware in any meaningful way that Windows 11 is utterly useless as a metric for... anything.

I call a 2003 system obsolete in that the lack of RAM, the single core CPU, etc etc, all come together to make a system that will make running anything resembling complex modern software (like browsers) pain itself.

There is still potential use for them of course! Besides period software (some of which is still useful,) simpler things (such as scanning stuff as you mentioned) can still be done. Someone else mentioned using one as a PiHole and yeah, there's a lot of other such things. But run the latest Firefox and you'll cry.