3 ms·

Sold for $150, released in April 2015. End of life was Dec 2017. 3 years after that it breaks. Eh.. 5.5 years is a good run. Do people really expect software to

Sold for $150, released in April 2015. End of life was Dec 2017. 3 years after that it breaks. Eh.. 5.5 years is a good run. Do people really expect software to work forever after it's reached end of life? Even with Windows updates? And hardware changes? What does "end of life" mean to people if it doesn't mean what the words say?

gruez 6y ago
>Do people really expect software to work forever after it's reached end of life? Yes, actually. Office 97 still works on windows 10[1]. >Even with Windows updates? And hardware changes? But neither of them occurred. The software simply stopped working after a certain timespan has passed. If it broke because a because of a OS update that's understandable, but because an arbitrary date has passed, that's less understandable. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/abandonware/comments/9tfgtb/office_97_and_windows_10_ridiculous_compatibility/ https://old.reddit.com/r/abandonware/comments/9tfgtb/office_...
- a2tech 6y ago
  And Office 97 works great. All the features added after 97 are cruft that are not central to actually getting work done in the composite apps.
ratww 6y ago
After OS Updates and Hardware updates? Not really. That's why I use VMs and emulators. After the clock changing? Of course.
- BlueTemplar 6y ago
  I guess that there is one instance of the clock changing that is acceptable for out of support software to break : a Y2k/2038 time rollover bug.
wnoise 6y ago
Yes. Bits don't wear out.
ryandrake 6y ago
Uhh, yes. I don’t expect any product I buy to suddenly stop working, unless it is defective or a wear-and-tear item that is expected to wear out. Software has no moving parts and therefore should not wear out, so it should work until I no longer need it. Imagine if a hammer had a time bomb that destroyed itself after the manufacturer’s arbitrary “end of life” date. That would be totally unacceptable.
Closi 6y ago
I think people buying a “perpetual” licence might not expect it to work forever, but at the same time could rightly expect that it was licenced indefinitely. If you buy software you expect all the dependencies to be licensed with the same timespan as the product. The issue here is that the dependencies weren’t perpetually licenced, but the software was, which is pretty bullshitty.
- tomc1985 6y ago
  The expectation is that if most other variables within your control are held constant, then the software should continue to work... perpetually. I don't get this idea that people expect this stuff to be temporary. The code itself is eternal and if you can control for changes it should be able to run forever.
therouwboat 6y ago
Yeah, I expect software to work for longer than 5 years. MS works hard to keep software running and I may still have same computer that I had 5 years ago, so why wouldn't it work?
r3trohack3r 6y ago
I’d expect the vendor I purchased a perpetual license from to have obtained a perpetual license for the software they included in the sale.
grishka 6y ago
If I ever bought software, yes I'd expect it to work for as long as I have a technically compatible operating system. I'd certainly not expect someone to add code to it that would deliberately break it depending on what year it is.

gruez 6y ago

>Do people really expect software to work forever after it's reached end of life? Yes, actually. Office 97 still works on windows 10[1]. >Even with Windows updates? And hardware changes? But neither of them occurred. The software simply stopped working after a certain timespan has passed. If it broke because a because of a OS update that's understandable, but because an arbitrary date has passed, that's less understandable. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/abandonware/comments/9tfgtb/office_97_and_windows_10_ridiculous_compatibility/ https://old.reddit.com/r/abandonware/comments/9tfgtb/office_...

a2tech 6y ago
And Office 97 works great. All the features added after 97 are cruft that are not central to actually getting work done in the composite apps.

ratww 6y ago

After OS Updates and Hardware updates? Not really. That's why I use VMs and emulators. After the clock changing? Of course.

BlueTemplar 6y ago
I guess that there is one instance of the clock changing that is acceptable for out of support software to break : a Y2k/2038 time rollover bug.

wnoise 6y ago

Yes. Bits don't wear out.

ryandrake 6y ago

Uhh, yes. I don’t expect any product I buy to suddenly stop working, unless it is defective or a wear-and-tear item that is expected to wear out. Software has no moving parts and therefore should not wear out, so it should work until I no longer need it. Imagine if a hammer had a time bomb that destroyed itself after the manufacturer’s arbitrary “end of life” date. That would be totally unacceptable.

Closi 6y ago

I think people buying a “perpetual” licence might not expect it to work forever, but at the same time could rightly expect that it was licenced indefinitely. If you buy software you expect all the dependencies to be licensed with the same timespan as the product. The issue here is that the dependencies weren’t perpetually licenced, but the software was, which is pretty bullshitty.

tomc1985 6y ago
The expectation is that if most other variables within your control are held constant, then the software should continue to work... perpetually. I don't get this idea that people expect this stuff to be temporary. The code itself is eternal and if you can control for changes it should be able to run forever.

therouwboat 6y ago

Yeah, I expect software to work for longer than 5 years. MS works hard to keep software running and I may still have same computer that I had 5 years ago, so why wouldn't it work?

r3trohack3r 6y ago

I’d expect the vendor I purchased a perpetual license from to have obtained a perpetual license for the software they included in the sale.

grishka 6y ago

If I ever bought software, yes I'd expect it to work for as long as I have a technically compatible operating system. I'd certainly not expect someone to add code to it that would deliberately break it depending on what year it is.