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It would be nice if companies were required to make available the source code for drivers/firmware/etc if they wish to discontinue a piece of hardware that's st
by a2128 3y ago
It would be nice if companies were required to make available the source code for drivers/firmware/etc if they wish to discontinue a piece of hardware that's still in use, so that the community can take over software support and keep things going until interest/use dies. Unfortunately, we're stuck with a reality where companies don't really need to consider the negative externalities of generating massive amounts of e-waste through such a decision, or even consider the fact their customers bought and should therefore own and have the right to keep using the product they paid good money for. And so companies get to kill perfectly good hardware whenever it becomes unprofitable to keep maintaining the software themselves.
- nunez 3y agoI just recently finished reading about the history of the kinescope. This device was a camera that recorded live broadcasts from a studio monitor. It was meant to distribute live content quickly for playback outside of local TV networks. Many different kinescopes were made. All of them had slightly different film. Almost no content from kinescopes exist anymore. So I think "consider[ing] the negative externalities of generating massive amounts of e-waste" is a pretty old problem! (When DuMont, a major TV network, folded, they dumped all of theirs into the New York Bay!)