<div><div dir="auto">The business model of most companies is to find an addiction in the client.</div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Not every company is Phillip Morris or an heusser Busch, (or McDonald’s or kraft foods) they just want to be.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">If it isn’t SaaS, most modern products with some hardware component contain a death seed of some kind.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">—heusser </div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Dec 31, 2019 at 11:09 PM Christine Hall via Ipg-smz <<a href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">In my house, it's not obsolete until we say it's obsolete.<br>
<br>
Christine Hall<br>
Publisher & Editor<br>
FOSS Force: Keeping tech free<br>
<a href="http://fossforce.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://fossforce.com</a><br>
<br>
On 12/31/19 11:00 PM, Lynn Greiner via Ipg-smz wrote:<br>
> Just ask an iPhone owner who slavishly buys the latest model ever single <br>
> year 😊<br>
> <br>
> *From:*Ipg-smz <<a href="mailto:ipg-smz-bounces@netpress.org" target="_blank">ipg-smz-bounces@netpress.org</a>> *On Behalf Of *Dennisf63 <br>
> via Ipg-smz<br>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 31, 2019 5:53 PM<br>
> *To:* <a href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org" target="_blank">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a><br>
> *Cc:* Dennisf63 <<a href="mailto:dennisf63@wildblue.net" target="_blank">dennisf63@wildblue.net</a>><br>
> *Subject:* Re: [Ipg-smz] eBay vendors selling used laptops with Linux <br>
> Mint installed<br>
> <br>
> You young whipper-snappers probably don't remember a time, oh, it was <br>
> probably back in the 1950s when the term was "planned obsolesence." In <br>
> them days it was cars, auto-mobiles, when Deetroit was cranking 'em out, <br>
> adding tail fins and what not, while the Japanese were concentrating on <br>
> fuel efficient, well built small cars.<br>
> <br>
> What goes around comes around. Those to don't remember history are <br>
> condemned to repeat it.<br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> <br>
> Dennis Fowler<br>
> <br>
> P. O. Box 70<br>
> <br>
> Otego, NY 13825<br>
> <br>
> <a href="mailto:dennisf63@wildblue.net" target="_blank">dennisf63@wildblue.net</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:dennisf63@wildblue.net" target="_blank">dennisf63@wildblue.net</a>><br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On 12/31/2019 04:19 PM, Lynn Greiner via Ipg-smz wrote:<br>
> <br>
> It’s all marketing – it’s in companies’ best interest to get people<br>
> to buy new stuff so they maintain their revenue streams. Thus Y is<br>
> the “X-killer”. The world is littered with the corpses of last<br>
> year’s model, if you believe the hype (also, subscription and<br>
> streaming models are simply revenue tools – I’d rather have my movie<br>
> on DVD and not be at the mercy of some streaming service). My<br>
> previous desktop was retired after about 8 or 9 years, after it<br>
> suffered a catastrophic hardware failure that would have been too<br>
> expensive to fix. The one before it went 9 years and had to be put<br>
> aside because replacement parts weren’t available. Current machine<br>
> is 4, I think – had it for a couple of years before the other<br>
> desktop died, since I needed Win10 for some things and the vendor<br>
> refused to support Win10 on the old box. I can run Linux on the new<br>
> system too, of course – I configured it with a ton of RAM so I could<br>
> create VMs.<br>
> <br>
> *From:* Ipg-smz <<a href="mailto:ipg-smz-bounces@netpress.org" target="_blank">ipg-smz-bounces@netpress.org</a>><br>
> <mailto:<a href="mailto:ipg-smz-bounces@netpress.org" target="_blank">ipg-smz-bounces@netpress.org</a>> *On Behalf Of *Mark Brownstein<br>
> via Ipg-smz<br>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 31, 2019 3:51 PM<br>
> *To:* <a href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org" target="_blank">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org" target="_blank">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a>><br>
> *Cc:* Mark Brownstein <<a href="mailto:IPG@brownstein.com" target="_blank">IPG@brownstein.com</a>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:IPG@brownstein.com" target="_blank">IPG@brownstein.com</a>><br>
> *Subject:* Re: [Ipg-smz] eBay vendors selling used laptops with<br>
> Linux Mint installed<br>
> <br>
> The whole issue of 'obsolete' has been a bit of a puzzle to me, too.<br>
> <br>
> Why is it necessary to get the latest and greatest? Why is a phone,<br>
> for example (maybe an iPhone 6 or a Galaxy S8) that was once the<br>
> latest and greatest -- and still works fine - suddenly obsolete when<br>
> a new model comes along?<br>
> <br>
> Why is Word 10 (which I use to teach a 100 year old nun, and usually<br>
> use for most of my projects) obsolete - even though it still works<br>
> fine for me, and meets almost all of my needs?<br>
> <br>
> The once state-of-the-art (or almost) Dell notebook that you wrote<br>
> about was hot shit a decade or so ago -- sure, new software may<br>
> require more resources - but this thing is still powerful, and will<br>
> do Linux Mint very well. With good desktop apps - and a lot of apps<br>
> that do things that are similar to the Windows or Mac apps (or some<br>
> ported across platforms to provide equivalent features and<br>
> capabilities) - why NOT keep an 'obsolete' machine alive and vital?<br>
> <br>
> This isn't quite like it was in the mid '90s when the Pentium or<br>
> 80264 came out, and some apps wouldn't run on an earlier CPU.<br>
> <br>
> I've been thinking about putting Linux on one of my virtual machines<br>
> and taking it for a spin.<br>
> <br>
> On 12/31/2019 9:45 AM, Phil Shapiro via Ipg-smz wrote:<br>
> <br>
> I've noticed several eBay vendors are selling used laptops<br>
> with Linux Mint installed. I sometimes buy these<br>
> <br>
> and resell them to community members at cost. I'm then able to<br>
> provide free tech support via my public library job.<br>
> <br>
> In some ways my job is analogous to an open source<br>
> Apple genius bar -- although I'm given no scripts of what I can<br>
> <br>
> and can't say. I just give people the best possible advice and<br>
> support I can.<br>
> <br>
> Anyway, there might be an interesting story about<br>
> Linux finding its way into communities via eBay. I can.<br>
> <br>
> pass along the vendors names, if anyone might be interested in<br>
> running with this.<br>
> <br>
> An interesting side angle to this -- the vendors would<br>
> not be installing Linux Mint if there were no demand<br>
> <br>
> for it... Another angle, I installed Linux Mint 19.3xfce on a<br>
> 2002 Dell Dimension 4550 desktop this week. Darn<br>
> <br>
> computer feels pretty snappy to me. Without Linux, that computer<br>
> would be out of commission. With Linux installed,<br>
> <br>
> it could see a few more years of use.<br>
> <br>
> Too often tech professionals use the word "obsolete"<br>
> as if it were a factual statement, rather than a statement of<br>
> opinion.<br>
> <br>
> If you're a refugee from some war torn country, a 2002 computer<br>
> with Linux installed would be a dream system to have at home.<br>
> <br>
> If your name were J.K. Rowling - and you were<br>
> receiving public assistance -- you could use such a computer to<br>
> write your<br>
> <br>
> first books.<br>
> <br>
> Phil<br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> <br>
> --<br>
> Phil Shapiro, <a href="mailto:pshapiro@his.com" target="_blank">pshapiro@his.com</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:pshapiro@his.com" target="_blank">pshapiro@his.com</a>><br>
> <a href="http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/</a><br>
> <<a href="http://www.his.com/%7Epshapiro/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.his.com/%7Epshapiro/</a>>briefbio.html<br>
> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro</a><br>
> <a href="http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories</a><br>
> <<a href="http://www.his.com/%7Epshapiro/stories" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.his.com/%7Epshapiro/stories</a>>.menu.html<br>
> <br>
> "Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates<br>
> "Learning happens thru gentleness."<br>
> <br>
> "We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can<br>
> choose from real options." David Suzuki<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Sent from Gmail Mobile</div>