Misc / I'm fed up with planned obsolescence/bad support
This post is really just me complaining about being fed up with planned obsolescence and awful software support.
Let's start with the awful software support shall we? I received a new TV after upgrading from a Samsung H5600 (which interestingly received an update recently from version 2900 to 2910, the first update in 8 years or so, I have no idea what has changed since there's no support articles afaik), a Toshiba 4K QLED Android TV (https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1120680). I have not received a single update. None. It's stuck on a security patch from February 2022. Argos lists it as being a 2022 model, which likely means that Toshiba, the manufacturer, has made ZERO effort to support my TV. Zero. No security patches, no OS updates (it's stuck on Android 11 right now).
Can I ask you whether that you think this is right? These manufacturers offer no guarantee of receiving even a single update. Nothing.
Massive props to Samsung though for making an update 9 years after the TV launched though. If anyone does know what's changed, please contact me at gamersinternationalhelp+substackfeedback@gmail.com.
Let's move onto phones now. I have a POCO X3 Pro, and yes it does still get updates. However, you're basically only guaranteed 2 Android updates, and even then, that can take a while (e.g. some people have Android 13 available on theirs, meanwhile I'm not able to get it on mine yet). Security updates only come every 3 months which sucks as well.
What about the planned obsolescence aspect you might ask? Let's just go to Windows shall we? It's not particularly well known, but despite Windows 8 adopting similar system requirements to Windows 7, it brought along a few big ones. Basically anything older than a Core 2 Duo (some Pentium 4’s work, but I wouldn't bet on it) does not work on Windows 8. The reason for this is due to the fact that Windows 8 requires a few processor extensions, including SSE-2 and PAE which is required for the setup screen to even run. Considering how I'd argue that Windows 8 is less demanding than Windows 7, and the main differences is the full screen metro apps. I'd like to see why this is needed though.
We could also move onto Windows 11 which added 2 major new requirements, Secure Boot and a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 chip. Neither of these are needed to run Windows 11, and you can bypass this, but Microsoft threatens a lack of updates without this feature.
These requirements literally only give you security benefits, they are NOT required to run the operating system. Microsoft pushes people to buying a new PC by an OEM, which allows Microsoft to get some money from licensing fees.
I'm gonna stop moaning and I'm just gonna beg you to subscribe and share. Thanks.