End-of-Life Tech - Is it time for “Best Before” stickers?
Apple has condemned my MacBook Air to death. The execution date will probably be around the end of October next year. Samsung has probably already executed my Android Tablet, but I can’t find the information on their site. According to endoflife.date it’s been dead for a year. And Microsoft has condemned my fabulous Dell XPS15 laptop to death on Oct 14, 2025, and executed my XPS SE desktop and my Vostro 3500 Laptop 3 years ago. So I need to replace everything ….
But Wait, Why?
If I don’t bury all these systems, CyberScum around the
world will try to turn them into weapons against me and my family. To extort
money from me, destroy my digital memories and my online identities, and cause
me untold pain trying to recover. Because that old tech no longer has security
support - from the companies that made
it and sold it to me.
Really?
Is burying and replacing my tech the best, most cost-effective protection
against the CyberScum? Or is the upgrade mantra just a more subtle form of extortion? We do believe it is important to use the most secure systems possible
when connecting anything to the internet if you care about keeping CyberScum at
bay. However, one wonders if there’s an element of planned obsolescence in
the mantra - to keep the orders rolling in for new products.
And there are other, simpler, higher priority things we all
need to do to protect ourselves. Chief among these is defence against Phishing attacks. But there are also
others, and we’re starting to work on a couple of new weBooks on Internet Identity and Security that will provide some guidance
and tools.
In the meantime ….
So What’s the Problem?
Replacing all this tech is a costly pain. Not only do I have to
spend good money to replace still good technology, but I also have to spend good
time researching replacements, then uninstalling, re-installing, re-licencing,
and re-configuring all the software on them. And hopefully I can still find it
all and not have to buy it again. And then, of course, dealing with the
incompatibilities and data loss that will come with the new “improved” versions
and data migration procedures. And finally, figuring out what to do with all those bits of executed tech. Good time and money – wasted.
And even worse, these software makers have condemned all
this fine hardware to the scrap heaps of the world. Literally. Huge amounts of
toxic materials adding to the planetary burden of human e-waste.
Government Regulation to the Rescue?
Maybe this is where government regulators can help mitigate both
our individual financial and time challenges, and our collective poisoning of
our shared home. Require tech makers to publish End of Life statements
along with their advertising and cost information. So we consumers can make
informed, responsible purchasing decisions that minimize our tech life-cycle
cost and maximize their life-cycle value. And, unlike some government initiatives,
Help market forces drive positive change.
Could EOL requirements be added to Right to Repair legislation world-wide? If so, it
could be a simple market-driving add-on that helps “first-buyer” consumers make
decisions that are right for them individually and for all of us collectively. And provides a responsible front end to the tech supply chain, supporting a culture of
reduce, repair, and re-use that will drive true, global life-cycle value from
the tech we buy.
A Government ToDo List
- Work together to hunt down the CyberScum and put them out of business and into jail.
- Require EOL statements for goods in the Cyber Supply Chain.
- Support the secure Right to Repair for goods in the Cyber Supply Chain
The Pitch
For our bit(s), we’re working on our upcoming Apps&Things weBook - hopefully including the ability to estimate the “lifecycle” costs and security risk status of our technology. We’re also hoping to include the ability to estimate the amount of time each of these bits of tech steal from our lives, over their lifetimes. Simple, modifiable excel lists that might also be used to capture planned purchases and help inform those decisions,