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Originally Posted by JSWolf
But what will you do if you install XP and find you are no longer allowed to activate it?
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Thanks kindly for your reply. I held out with Windows 2000 so long partly because it was the last version that didn't need to "call home". Held off on XP until SP3 because that is when the black hat community started putting out reliable bootleg distributions that were hotfixed and critical-patched up to the minute with activation logic and nags disabled. So when I upgraded to a new system with OEM version of XP, and despite being the owner of a shrink wrapped XP on the shelf, I re-installed and have been using the bootleg. All the while, I've been helping my customers install and activate and hotfix their Genuine XPs, a process that at times has taken hours and countless clicks even with a good Internet connection, for which you can never get paid for all the hours you spent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
Not all new computers are going to crap out in a short time period. A lot of the problems are user error or user choice. Some like to overclock and that can cause a shortened lifespan. They buy a case too small and the cables are all over the place and in the way. There are ways of keeping today's hardware going. [...] Older laptops do die a lot due to overheating. Newer laptops do not get nearly as hot. So really, It's not a case of new is crap and old is better. It doesn't matter how reliable old is if it's too obsolete to run the software you want. The way I look at it, if you cannot run Qt5, it's junk. Junk being something that isn't up to the job.
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I have a couple of Acer netbooks that (for example) run XP fine but choke on W7, they are on the verge of being viable candidates for survival IF I manage to replace their dinky-fan forced air method with a plate of aluminum to carry away and distribute the heat.
I'm in it for the long haul. I lost everything awhile ago and had to start over, but in a few years I've managed to gather several complete systems and the parts to assemble a few more.
A great deal of it is clock speed, density and and how processor load relates to temperature and how quickly one influences the other. There has been a constant push to increase the clock. I remember when computers had no moving parts whatsoever. There was even a time when a sufficiently large convection heatsink could perform as well as a fan. We have gone past that now to where processor heat is generated in such a small area that it must be actively carried away. The comfortable temp gradient that used to be projected for all conditions is now a variable equation, a compromise expressed in terms of idle, normal and temporary peaking load. Now you risk seriously reducing the lifespan of your machine if you install a cpu-intensive screensaver.
Only with liquid immersion could we see the ultimate lifespan of these components achieved, return to "no moving parts" level of reliability once again. Too bad that the materials do not fare well when exposed to workable liquids. If the manufacturers would make this a priority and put out whole systems that could be immersed, I'd drop everything and go that way.
A "generational computer" is one that is likely to last at least a whole human generation with proper care. We could do it. We just don't want to, because as everyone knows, this technological paradise will last forever and the next one will be even faster and thinner! As Corey Ford once said, with the current trend of miniaturization it will not be long before computers disappear altogether.
I seek to build generational computers. It involves some re-engineering. I choose to work with the hardware of the previous slower-clocked era, and collect software that runs on them.