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Ability to install alternative operating system (such as Linux) extends life expectancy of hardware. That is important for ecology, lower carbon emissions... I

by jkot 12y ago

Ability to install alternative operating system (such as Linux) extends life expectancy of hardware. That is important for ecology, lower carbon emissions... I can easily imagine EU to pass new law, which would require "signed bootloader bypass" switch on all newly sold laptops and workstation. Great way to milk Intel, MS, Apple and other manufactures for couple of billions euro.

Kenji 12y ago
"Ability to install alternative operating system (such as Linux) extends life expectancy of hardware." Why should that be true? Source?
- kabdib 12y ago
  You can use a lighter weight OS than a recent version of Windows, which will presumably require fewer resources. Or if some of the hardware goes bad (say the screen fails) but you don't care because you're just doing SSH, you can still use it. I have a couple of decade-old laptops that are perfectly happy to run Linux, and Windows 7 won't even install on them because they don't have enough memory. It's also conceivable that a different OS would have a lower thermal profile, resulting in longer hardware lifetime on average.
- tbrownaw 12y ago
  1. Old software becomes less useful over time. This applies to anything that talks to outside systems. There's a new version of HTTP coming out, there are new versions of HTML and CSS, there are new formats for office documents, there are security fixes to SSL libraries, etc. 2. Newer applications tend to not be installable on older OSes. For example, newer IE won't run on Windows XP. 3. Therefore, older OSes become useless after a while, if you're talking to the outside world. 4. Therefore, being able to install a new OS on your hardware, can make that hardware useful longer. 5. Newer OSes may not always support older hardware. Also, companies that produce OSes (Microsoft, Apple, Red Hat, etc) may go out of business. 6. Therefore, being able to choose from a wider variety of OSes to install, increases the chances that you'll be able to find one that you can use. 7. Therefore, having more choice in OSes makes your hardware likely to be useful longer.
whoopdedo 12y ago
The other way to look at it is as technology improves so does energy efficiency. What is the cost saving of taking older more power-hungry hardware off the grid? Planned obsolescence encourages timely upgrading so end users can take advantage of recent innovations. Similar to how a rolling release delivers bug fixes more expediently than a code-rush major releases interspersed with occasional patches. (I'm not saying definitively that one is better than the other, only offering both perspectives.)
conductor 12y ago
If this is about security and not control then I'm sure the hardware manufacturers can find a solution to provide secure hardware which can be modified if the owner wants to modify it. Like a physical switch on the motherboard: unlock the switch, copy there your public key, lock it. Now install whatever you want if it's signed with your key.
- anon4 12y ago
  If it's to be really secure, how about an RSA public/private key pair? Public key gets burned on the mobo, private key comes on a flash memory you store securely. BIOS has an option "disable secure mode" or whatever that requires you to physically insert a flash drive with the private key on it.

by jkot 12y ago

Kenji 12y ago

"Ability to install alternative operating system (such as Linux) extends life expectancy of hardware." Why should that be true? Source?

kabdib 12y ago
You can use a lighter weight OS than a recent version of Windows, which will presumably require fewer resources. Or if some of the hardware goes bad (say the screen fails) but you don't care because you're just doing SSH, you can still use it. I have a couple of decade-old laptops that are perfectly happy to run Linux, and Windows 7 won't even install on them because they don't have enough memory. It's also conceivable that a different OS would have a lower thermal profile, resulting in longer hardware lifetime on average.
tbrownaw 12y ago
1. Old software becomes less useful over time. This applies to anything that talks to outside systems. There's a new version of HTTP coming out, there are new versions of HTML and CSS, there are new formats for office documents, there are security fixes to SSL libraries, etc. 2. Newer applications tend to not be installable on older OSes. For example, newer IE won't run on Windows XP. 3. Therefore, older OSes become useless after a while, if you're talking to the outside world. 4. Therefore, being able to install a new OS on your hardware, can make that hardware useful longer. 5. Newer OSes may not always support older hardware. Also, companies that produce OSes (Microsoft, Apple, Red Hat, etc) may go out of business. 6. Therefore, being able to choose from a wider variety of OSes to install, increases the chances that you'll be able to find one that you can use. 7. Therefore, having more choice in OSes makes your hardware likely to be useful longer.

whoopdedo 12y ago

The other way to look at it is as technology improves so does energy efficiency. What is the cost saving of taking older more power-hungry hardware off the grid? Planned obsolescence encourages timely upgrading so end users can take advantage of recent innovations. Similar to how a rolling release delivers bug fixes more expediently than a code-rush major releases interspersed with occasional patches. (I'm not saying definitively that one is better than the other, only offering both perspectives.)

conductor 12y ago

If this is about security and not control then I'm sure the hardware manufacturers can find a solution to provide secure hardware which can be modified if the owner wants to modify it. Like a physical switch on the motherboard: unlock the switch, copy there your public key, lock it. Now install whatever you want if it's signed with your key.

anon4 12y ago
If it's to be really secure, how about an RSA public/private key pair? Public key gets burned on the mobo, private key comes on a flash memory you store securely. BIOS has an option "disable secure mode" or whatever that requires you to physically insert a flash drive with the private key on it.