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One thought: does a server make better use of its environmental cost than a desktop? Both now run multi-user operating systems, but due to both how OSes are so
by shadowofneptune 5y ago
One thought: does a server make better use of its environmental cost than a desktop?
Both now run multi-user operating systems, but due to both how OSes are sold and how desktops are managed, only one user will ever use it at a time. Over its operating life, the hardware of a desktop never realizes its potential.
- kixiQu 5y agoI would have guessed that this would be the case, absolutely. It's not like the cloud makes everything better for e waste; for my home use SSDs are a giant pain because I need to monitor them for wear and replace them and etc etc , but it's so easy to let a cloud provider do it that I'm sure there are businesses cheerfully burning through SSDs who wouldn't be using them for on prem. But overall, for environmental analysis that isn't ideologically committed to going back to rocks and sticks, you have to balance what you get for the impact of a thing--and data centers squeeze a lot out of their stuff.