Quote:
Originally Posted by BWinmill
Expecting an expensive piece of hardware to last for a few years is, IMHO, a reasonable expectation. Maybe not to the Spectrum extreme, but certainly more than 5 years. (Actually, this is a big part of the reason why I ditched Apple for Microsoft. XP and older hardware remains reasonably well supported.)
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Apple is in the business to sell hardware, so they have devised a strategy of planned obsolescence to maximize hardware sales. Microsoft, on the other hand, has to design their OS to work on a wide range of hardware, so maximum flexibility is a design goal which naturally lends itself to increased longevity. But you can be sure that Microsoft is envious of Apple's ability to essentially force a majority of its customers to regularly "upgrade" their hardware and software.