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What do you think the half life of most electronics is? Why do you think so many people get anxious about Apple "abandoning" the Mac? A trickle of security upda

What do you think the half life of most electronics is? Why do you think so many people get anxious about Apple "abandoning" the Mac? A trickle of security updates does not make a well supported and thriving product line.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
You should be purchasing hardware based on whether the current model looks good, not what model may be next in that product line. The latter is pointless and largely impossible. Chrome OS itself isn't going anywhere.
- mrmuagi 8y ago
  Not entirely. If the ship is sinking (no future development) it's highly likely things like warranties, support, maintenance, etc -- are also sun setting or degrading in quality -- in a sense that most of the brightest and keen individuals in those departments have routed or been reassigned, leaving lack lustre or not as motivated people behind. I kind of speak from both sides of this, I had some audio hardware I bought but one day they went radio silent (404 site so presumably belly up), so future support was dead along with all their support drivers. Another was an internship I did at a hardware company where there was just maintenance patches being applied to the product, and it was depressing.
- bad_user 8y ago
  How the product looks is a very superficial criterion. As developers we understand the value of the ecosystem and we want to invest in products that last longer that one or two years. Also I own Apple and Thinkpad laptops that are between 1 and 7 years old and all of them are still working fine. Laptops last longer than smartphones so you want to ensure the platform will be supported for the next 10 years. Can you honestly say that Google will support Chrome OS for the next 10 years? Personally I doubt it.
  - rifung 8y ago
    > Can you honestly say that Google will support Chrome OS for the next 10 years? Personally I doubt it. I work for Chrome OS, opinions are my own. I think yes it will be supported because Google is trying very hard to diversify its revenue streams and Chrome OS actually makes money and is still growing quickly. Note that Chrome OS is an entirely separate PA (product area) from Hardware.
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      How does Chrome OS make money? Are there licensing fees involved?
      - rifung 8y ago
        I am not really qualified to answer that question but I believe it's the combination of licensing fees and support
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    I think there's a super important distinction here between hardware and platforms/software. The GP was annoyed that they bought a PixelBook before Google killed their hardware division. If I bought a Dell XPS laptop to run Windows, and Dell announced the next day they were discontinuing their XPS line, I wouldn't regret my purchase. Dell's decision doesn't change either the utility of my current hardware or the overall Windows ecosystem. Regardless of whether or not Chrome OS is here to stay—I very much think it is, personally—Google closing their hardware division doesn't tell us much about Chrome OS's future. Only a tiny fraction of Chrome OS hardware comes from Google itself.
- jedberg 8y ago
  > You should be purchasing hardware based on whether the current model looks good, not what model may be next in that product line. I couldn't disagree more. When I buy a laptop, I want to know that all the time I invest in learning that ecosystem and customizing won't be wasted time. Or any other hardware. Especially if I have to buy apps for it. I want to know that when I get the next piece of hardware, it will support all the software I already know and love (and paid for!) I'm reluctant to buy into an ecosystem that might be on the decline, because it means a higher chance of that stuff not working anymore.
  - steelframe 8y ago
    I always buy the product that's in front of me, in the state it's in, and expect nothing more. This is why I bought a Jaguar I-PACE instead of a Tesla Model 3. A big part of the differentiating Model 3 value seems to be in vague promises for full self-driving capability and in an increasingly robust charging network in the future. Looking at the features the two cars actually have now, as well as where I can get with the charging networks that already exist or are actively under construction, in my book the I-PACE made more sense.
scarface74 8y ago
The iPhone 5s from 2013 can run the latest OS. The latest version of MacOS supports computers back to 2012. But while the Mac is not a huge percentage of Apple’s revenue, by itself, it makes enough money to be a Fortune 100 company.
- omnifischer 8y ago
  Yes, you can run latest iOS. But it is dog slow. Try to use it with at least 3 apps. For a typical user with > 10 apps it is useless.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Not according to reviews. According to reviews, IOS 12 is very performant for 5s. I know it works well on the 6s series. The number of applications installed doesn't matter. iOS will purge apps if they are running in the background and take up too much CPU or memory. You're not going to have > 10 apps running in the background. More than likely, you won't have any third party apps using CPU time in the background besides playing music or VOIP. EDIT: Just realized that you may be referring to macOS. In that case, that would be RAM and/or disk dependent (SSD vs spinning hard drives).
  - chipotle_coyote 8y ago
    I ran it on an iPhone 6 and it was fine. Your comment about "at least 3 apps" makes very little sense to me; iOS is notoriously aggressive with memory management, and apps must be designed to expect being killed at any time without warning, with only a few specific background tasks allowed to run (and generally for limited times with explicitly defined purposes). I'm sure my phone had upwards of a hundred apps on it, but generally speaking, only one or two were running at any given time because that's true of any iOS device.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago

You should be purchasing hardware based on whether the current model looks good, not what model may be next in that product line. The latter is pointless and largely impossible. Chrome OS itself isn't going anywhere.

mrmuagi 8y ago
Not entirely. If the ship is sinking (no future development) it's highly likely things like warranties, support, maintenance, etc -- are also sun setting or degrading in quality -- in a sense that most of the brightest and keen individuals in those departments have routed or been reassigned, leaving lack lustre or not as motivated people behind. I kind of speak from both sides of this, I had some audio hardware I bought but one day they went radio silent (404 site so presumably belly up), so future support was dead along with all their support drivers. Another was an internship I did at a hardware company where there was just maintenance patches being applied to the product, and it was depressing.
bad_user 8y ago
How the product looks is a very superficial criterion. As developers we understand the value of the ecosystem and we want to invest in products that last longer that one or two years. Also I own Apple and Thinkpad laptops that are between 1 and 7 years old and all of them are still working fine. Laptops last longer than smartphones so you want to ensure the platform will be supported for the next 10 years. Can you honestly say that Google will support Chrome OS for the next 10 years? Personally I doubt it.
- rifung 8y ago
  > Can you honestly say that Google will support Chrome OS for the next 10 years? Personally I doubt it. I work for Chrome OS, opinions are my own. I think yes it will be supported because Google is trying very hard to diversify its revenue streams and Chrome OS actually makes money and is still growing quickly. Note that Chrome OS is an entirely separate PA (product area) from Hardware.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    How does Chrome OS make money? Are there licensing fees involved?
    - rifung 8y ago
      I am not really qualified to answer that question but I believe it's the combination of licensing fees and support
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  I think there's a super important distinction here between hardware and platforms/software. The GP was annoyed that they bought a PixelBook before Google killed their hardware division. If I bought a Dell XPS laptop to run Windows, and Dell announced the next day they were discontinuing their XPS line, I wouldn't regret my purchase. Dell's decision doesn't change either the utility of my current hardware or the overall Windows ecosystem. Regardless of whether or not Chrome OS is here to stay—I very much think it is, personally—Google closing their hardware division doesn't tell us much about Chrome OS's future. Only a tiny fraction of Chrome OS hardware comes from Google itself.
jedberg 8y ago
> You should be purchasing hardware based on whether the current model looks good, not what model may be next in that product line. I couldn't disagree more. When I buy a laptop, I want to know that all the time I invest in learning that ecosystem and customizing won't be wasted time. Or any other hardware. Especially if I have to buy apps for it. I want to know that when I get the next piece of hardware, it will support all the software I already know and love (and paid for!) I'm reluctant to buy into an ecosystem that might be on the decline, because it means a higher chance of that stuff not working anymore.
- steelframe 8y ago
  I always buy the product that's in front of me, in the state it's in, and expect nothing more. This is why I bought a Jaguar I-PACE instead of a Tesla Model 3. A big part of the differentiating Model 3 value seems to be in vague promises for full self-driving capability and in an increasingly robust charging network in the future. Looking at the features the two cars actually have now, as well as where I can get with the charging networks that already exist or are actively under construction, in my book the I-PACE made more sense.

scarface74 8y ago

The iPhone 5s from 2013 can run the latest OS. The latest version of MacOS supports computers back to 2012. But while the Mac is not a huge percentage of Apple’s revenue, by itself, it makes enough money to be a Fortune 100 company.

omnifischer 8y ago
Yes, you can run latest iOS. But it is dog slow. Try to use it with at least 3 apps. For a typical user with > 10 apps it is useless.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Not according to reviews. According to reviews, IOS 12 is very performant for 5s. I know it works well on the 6s series. The number of applications installed doesn't matter. iOS will purge apps if they are running in the background and take up too much CPU or memory. You're not going to have > 10 apps running in the background. More than likely, you won't have any third party apps using CPU time in the background besides playing music or VOIP. EDIT: Just realized that you may be referring to macOS. In that case, that would be RAM and/or disk dependent (SSD vs spinning hard drives).
- chipotle_coyote 8y ago
  I ran it on an iPhone 6 and it was fine. Your comment about "at least 3 apps" makes very little sense to me; iOS is notoriously aggressive with memory management, and apps must be designed to expect being killed at any time without warning, with only a few specific background tasks allowed to run (and generally for limited times with explicitly defined purposes). I'm sure my phone had upwards of a hundred apps on it, but generally speaking, only one or two were running at any given time because that's true of any iOS device.