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I so wish that at least when a manufacturer stops supporting hardware, he has to drop source code of drivers and the firmware in the public domain.

• tgv 5y ago
  Wouldn't that cause them to skip features and pick cheap drivers? How many people would benefit (not theoretically, but in practice)? Average life span of a mobile seems to be 2 years and a bit. After seven years, very few users will be left. And it's not as if everyone ditches their phone because of lack of updates.
  • boudin 5y ago
    I don't see why. Theorically it could benefit a lot of people and help community driven projects or companies wanting to provide long term support. For example, if you create a phone that relies on Qualcom socs, qualcom only provides a few years of support, once they don't provide any new driver you're screwed. Forcing the release of source code would at least help open source driver initiatives.
  • nicoburns 5y ago
    > And it's not as if everyone ditches their phone because of lack of updates. Often it's because of lack of app support, which is in turn because of lack of updates. Of course some people will always want the latest phone, but there are plenty of people that don't, and the second hand market is thriving. This is especially true in countries with lower income levels. I went on a trip to South America a few years ago, and most of the young people seemed to be using iPhone and android phones from top-tier manufacturers, but several generations old.