I agree that better technology shouldn't need continuous updates, but I do think there are two more likely drivers than planned obsolescence, differing from ear

I agree that better technology shouldn't need continuous updates, but I do think there are two more likely drivers than planned obsolescence, differing from early technology. Firstly, security. Older devices weren't connected to the entire world with bad actors attempting to exploit anything they can. Until people start writing software that have zero security exploits, anything connected to the internet needs an update path. Secondly, most apps in use today have a server component. Maintaining a perfect backwards compatible server for all clients ever released is a very tall order. Also, I think it's a strong indictment of current OS technology that updates are in question at all. If everything was as modular as it really should be, you'd have the core components of the kernal, the drivers for the hardware bits, (both of which really should be secure and not rely on servers) and then everything else should be in the user's complete control, to update or not as they please.