The intersection of modules, GKI, and rocket science

Posted Oct 12, 2021 20:35 UTC (Tue) by marcH (subscriber, #57642)
In reply to: The intersection of modules, GKI, and rocket science by nilsmeyer
Parent article: The intersection of modules, GKI, and rocket science

> There's another disincentive: If older hardware is supported for a longer time then users have less incentive to upgrade to newer devices.

This is the so-called "planned obsolescence" but it's been very hard to demonstrate when simpler explanations abound. Cutting corners and not backporting security fixes help the bottom line *directly*, really no need for more complex and very indirect rationales.

Planned obsolescense makes absolutely zero sense in a competitive environment: in that case you're just hurting your brand and helping your competition.

I really wish the time and money spent lobbying against this very elusive "planned obsolescence" were all spent on Rights to Repair instead. The latter is a real problem with real impact (and is incidentally related to open-source, unlike the first one)