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"Ability to install alternative operating system (such as Linux) extends life expectancy of hardware." Why should that be true? Source?
by 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 agoYou 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 ago1. 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.