325
Installing Linux on Hundreds of "Obsolete" Computers | Microsoft Windows 10 Support Ending (www.youtube.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/linux@programming.dev
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 16 points 1 year ago (9 children)

The rule that use to be the guide was that technology turned over 5-7 years (IIRC). These days, it seems that these companies are working hard to make it three years or less (look at Apple & Google releasing new phones every year or two).

Great to see Steve and the rest of the Gamers Nexus crew supporting the reuse of computers that shouldn't be out of commission.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Eh, back when Moore's Law was alive, it was easily every 2-3 years. Around 2010 we hit a wall with transistor sizes and CPU speeds, which saw the time between upgrades rise considerably. A gaming PC from 2015 was very capable 5-7y later. Vendors have been spending all the time since coming up with ways to get that back down to 2-3, especially EOLing perfectly good hw artificially quickly.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Moore's law was about the technology -- but I am talking about the application of the technology. It was unusual for most businesses to base their purchasing / refreshing decisions around the idea that the technology would be good for 2-3 Moore's law cycles. This was especially true back in the days of Mainframes and later "Mini" computers (shrunk down versions of Mainframes -- not Mini PC's) where companies like DEC and IBM went to great lengths to ensure that upgrading to a newer system didn't impact other operations in a business.

    Most of this carried on with Vax and Unix Systems (like Sun workstations, SGI, etc.) in the same lifecycle.

    When PC's started coming into the business world, the thought was that they would fit that same lifecycle -- and many of them did. This set the mark for early PC's when IBM brought them to the consumer market. The IBM PC was, after all, the consumer version of a business computer.

    Apple, Commodore, TI, Atari, et al. were a bit different -- coming at things more from the entertainment, education, and hobby side of things.

    I see what Steve is doing here is attempting to push things back towards the business lifecycle, and with good reason: it's better for the planet if fewer machines are abandoned due to the arbitrary whims of some marketer's concept of profitability.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Ah, i gotcha. The video at hand, and this whole thread is about the lifespan of consumer electronics, not really business refresh cycles.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    FWIW - I'm not arguing about any of this... I'm just expounding on my thought process.

    There were a lot of business class systems in the mix they were working on... I saw a bunch of Dell Optiplex, and HP Workstations in there... I think that was from either (a) some businesses / schools donating them, or (b) after market recyclers donating the ones they couldn't get working and didn't want to spend time on.

    No matter what, however, the bottom line is that a high percentage of these systems will be given new life -- and that's what counts.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    My daily driver is an old crappy Intel NUC i5. Fired up Left 4 Dead, runs tight.

    7 years ago I was buying PCs from eBay vendors who recycled off-lease business computers. Cheap as hell, worked fine for office tasks.

    Last company was still in the mode of, "3 years old!". As the sysadmin I as totally confused as to what to buy. Everything was either too old or too pricey. FFS, we're writing software, it doesn't have to be a top-line gaming computer!

    LOL, got shot down on a purchase because the ad had the word "gaming" in it. "That doesn't matter! The specs vs. price are bangin'!" Nope.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Business computers are definitely longer leases than mobile phones i can tell you that. consumers upgrade more often than businesses do.

    well not the businesses that are built around apple devices.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Businesses tend to stick to a 3-5 year life-cycle. But I've gotten the feeling that even there they are cycling things through a bit more rapidly... It's just that they tend to do it in waves so it's not quite as noticable, or as big an impact to the budgets.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    I don't think we're cycling through anywhere near that fast. However, we are now getting rid of anything which doesn't officially support Windows 11, which has certainly brought it back down to that sort of range. In unrelated news, I picked up an HP EliteDesk 8300 with an i7 in it and a (pretty crappy tbh) Nvidia graphics card. Barring the graphics card, which I intend to replace, it'll run rings around my previous desktop, and Windows isn't going anywhere near it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent