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Originally Posted by Katsunami
In the end, it's always the drm that is the biggest threat to losing material because you are dependent on the source forever. Compare it with computers. How many scanners, printers, sound cards and so on, that work basically fine, end up on the scrap heap because manufacturers refuse to write drivers for the latest Windows versions? The Windows driver basically is the 'drm' for these devices, through which manufacturers force you to upgrade after you upgrade Windows.
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That is a stretch.
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Compare that to Linux. Drivers are still the main Achilles heel. Too many devices don't work because manufacturers don't want to provide drivers or specifications. Therefore, the drivers for Linux are almost always behind the times. But here's the cracker: if it works, then it will work *forever*, because the driver is maintained together with the latest version if the operating system (kernel).
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It will work for as long as someone is bothered to maintain the driver.
At some point, if someone cannot be found to maintain it, and it breaks as a result of another change, it will be dropped.