6 ms·

This might be one of those "it's a feature, not a bug" dealies. Software is now subject to similar rules of decay and planned obsolescence as hardware and mater

• londons_explore 7y ago
  Except the vast majority of material objects don't decay, or at least don't decay quickly. The hoe I use for de-weeding my garden was my great grandfathers, and is probably 100 years old. It functions pretty much the same as it did when it was new. My father had to put one new screw in it I remember, so it has served its purpose continuously for 100 years with ~20 minutes of maintenance. A similar small bit of software would need recompiling monthly, and rewriting every 10 years, at huge labor costs, just to keep the same functionality.
  • grawprog 7y ago
    >for 100 years with ~20 minutes of maintenance. While I get your point, are you honestly saying a hoe has lasted 100 years and still completely usable to its original standards with absolutely no sharpening, oiling, cleaning or care of any kind other than changing a screw? Stainless steel wasn't exactly common back then, so I'm assuming this hoe was probably iron with a wooden handle? The iron would definitely need to be at least cleaned and dried after use to prevent corrosion and the handle, while probably at least treated at one point, would likely need some kind of maintenance, even if just cleaning, to prevent rot and decay? After 100 years not even a single nick in the blade that needed to be honed out? Never hit a single rock with it? Tree roots never dulled it? Sorry, I know I'm being kind of facetious, but manual tools definitely need care and maintenance if they're used regularly. Even simple ones.
    • userbinator 7y ago
      To give a better and perhaps more relevant example: The wiring and many electrical devices in my house are over half a century old, yet all the switches and outlets still function perfectly fine.
      • DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
        If they use aluminum wiring, the situation may be less rosy than you think.
        • userbinator 7y ago
          Fortunately, the building predates aluminum wiring.
      • grawprog 7y ago
        Just to make a counterpoint. The wiring and many electrical devices in my house are over half a century old, the entire circuit breaker panel needed to be replaced a few years ago, the light in the bathroom actually just stopped working a couple weeks ago, i've replaced both the switch and the light fixture itself, but still no light so it's looking like it may be damage to the wiring, outlets are extremely easy to overload and a couple just don't work at all, there's actually an extension cord running from the basement through the floor connected to a working outlet there to replace one of the non-functional outlets.
  • rakoo 7y ago
    A hoe is a very simple tool. You could say something equivalent of `cat`: the software is pretty much done, no need for particular maintenance, and it will work in 30 years time. If we still use UNIXes in 100 years time, I don't see `cat` failing either. You wouldn't say the same things about a tractor, or about, say, Firefox