Technology has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. Inevitably, that change will bring with it obsolescence. There is a difference between things that are intentionally obsolete for convenience or profit compared to things that have earned obsolescence by outliving their usefulness. Age alone does not equate to lost utility. A 50 year old car may be prized as an antique, and it may be more fun to drive than a modern car. A high fidelity tube audio amplifier from 1970 may be particularly prized today by audiophiles.
In the arid, remote West, the dumps of abandoned homesteads tell forgotten stories of fashion and obsolescence. It is not uncommon to find a wood-fired cook stove in the kitchen and a "modern" propane-fired stove in the dump. The chronology can be reconstructed from the evidence. The original wood-fired stove was replaced with a fashionable propane stove. Over time, the propane stove was found to be less satisfactory than the wood stove. Maybe the cost of propane went up, or the propane burners needed frequent maintenance. At some point, the homesteader salvaged the wood stove from the dump and deposited the propane stove in its place. As an engineer might observe, progress is not always linear.
In the computer business, the flip side of planned obsolescence is backward compatibility. Backward compatibility is not quite as cut and dried as a one or a zero. The Apple ][ GS was billed as 100% backward compatible to the Apple ][, but its commercial failure cast a shadow over the future of open systems with strict backward compatibility. The Apple ][ yielded to the Mac, which was a closed, incompatible system. That heralded an unfortunate trend for an age when we are running out of resources and are choking on our own discards. If you wanted to add function to your Apple ][, often you could plug an expansion card into an expansion slot. If your Mac wasn't up to the job, it was time for a new computer. Lack of expandability is a step short of intentional obsolecence, but there are plenty of examples of completely satisfactory computers becoming landfill due to new software requirements that amount to little more than thinly disguised intentional obsolescence. I am not singling out Apple, here. A perfectly good Windows computer gets upgraded to the latest operating system, but over time problems develop and the computer becomes baulky and unreliable. The old operating system is, by then, no longer supported, so it's time for a new computer. We have been conditioned to expect shockingly short useful lives out of expensive computers. At this point the situation has gotten out of hand. Electronic waste is an industry-wide problem, and planned obsolescence imposes an industry-wide cost to society as well as an aggravation for its victims.
So what can be done, practically speaking? To start with, products can be designed for long life. That entails using established, high quality components and uncompromised construction. Long-lived products are designed for survivability and serviceability. If a system needs repair, the older it is, the more likely it will be discarded, even if it could be economically repaired. So, for example, don't just recommend a surge-protected plug strip, build in surge protection. Remember that it helps to design in expandability, and to document the product while minimizing the need for unstated context, so that interested parties in the future can make sense of the documentation. The fewer assumptions about specific uses or backgrounds, the better. A long-lived product will do basic things well and conveniently, not just fill a narrow need, or aim at a particular market window.
Software can be can kept backward compatible with just a little extra care, unless there are major operating system changes. Historically at Lawson Labs, we have provided dlls with documentation to simplify communications with the hardware. In many cases, replacing an older dll with a newer one is the only change needed when migrating to a newer operating system. That eliminates one class of obsolescence. It is not unusual to have special, in-house software that was written by someone who has left the company, or that requires a particular compiler that is no longer functioning. If changes are required to get that software to run on a newer computer or operating system, it can trigger the death knell of the custom software, which, in turn, obsoletes the hardware. If instead, substituting a free dll update solves the compatibility problem, we have achieved a major convenience with commensurate cost savings. Plus, the landfill gets a break.
Also, please be in touch if you have a 1970 E-type you don't want around any more.
Tom Lawson
In the arid, remote West, the dumps of abandoned homesteads tell forgotten stories of fashion and obsolescence. It is not uncommon to find a wood-fired cook stove in the kitchen and a "modern" propane-fired stove in the dump. The chronology can be reconstructed from the evidence. The original wood-fired stove was replaced with a fashionable propane stove. Over time, the propane stove was found to be less satisfactory than the wood stove. Maybe the cost of propane went up, or the propane burners needed frequent maintenance. At some point, the homesteader salvaged the wood stove from the dump and deposited the propane stove in its place. As an engineer might observe, progress is not always linear.
In the computer business, the flip side of planned obsolescence is backward compatibility. Backward compatibility is not quite as cut and dried as a one or a zero. The Apple ][ GS was billed as 100% backward compatible to the Apple ][, but its commercial failure cast a shadow over the future of open systems with strict backward compatibility. The Apple ][ yielded to the Mac, which was a closed, incompatible system. That heralded an unfortunate trend for an age when we are running out of resources and are choking on our own discards. If you wanted to add function to your Apple ][, often you could plug an expansion card into an expansion slot. If your Mac wasn't up to the job, it was time for a new computer. Lack of expandability is a step short of intentional obsolecence, but there are plenty of examples of completely satisfactory computers becoming landfill due to new software requirements that amount to little more than thinly disguised intentional obsolescence. I am not singling out Apple, here. A perfectly good Windows computer gets upgraded to the latest operating system, but over time problems develop and the computer becomes baulky and unreliable. The old operating system is, by then, no longer supported, so it's time for a new computer. We have been conditioned to expect shockingly short useful lives out of expensive computers. At this point the situation has gotten out of hand. Electronic waste is an industry-wide problem, and planned obsolescence imposes an industry-wide cost to society as well as an aggravation for its victims.
So what can be done, practically speaking? To start with, products can be designed for long life. That entails using established, high quality components and uncompromised construction. Long-lived products are designed for survivability and serviceability. If a system needs repair, the older it is, the more likely it will be discarded, even if it could be economically repaired. So, for example, don't just recommend a surge-protected plug strip, build in surge protection. Remember that it helps to design in expandability, and to document the product while minimizing the need for unstated context, so that interested parties in the future can make sense of the documentation. The fewer assumptions about specific uses or backgrounds, the better. A long-lived product will do basic things well and conveniently, not just fill a narrow need, or aim at a particular market window.
Software can be can kept backward compatible with just a little extra care, unless there are major operating system changes. Historically at Lawson Labs, we have provided dlls with documentation to simplify communications with the hardware. In many cases, replacing an older dll with a newer one is the only change needed when migrating to a newer operating system. That eliminates one class of obsolescence. It is not unusual to have special, in-house software that was written by someone who has left the company, or that requires a particular compiler that is no longer functioning. If changes are required to get that software to run on a newer computer or operating system, it can trigger the death knell of the custom software, which, in turn, obsoletes the hardware. If instead, substituting a free dll update solves the compatibility problem, we have achieved a major convenience with commensurate cost savings. Plus, the landfill gets a break.
Also, please be in touch if you have a 1970 E-type you don't want around any more.
Tom Lawson
