Hardware makers criticized for eco double standards • The Register | Opinion

Don’t penalize resellers for selling refurbished kit, educate shareholders on being Earth’s friend

Source: Hardware makers criticized for eco double standards • The Register

Opinion:

I can just see it.

Q of Star Trek’s The Next Generation is holding a grand inquisition somewhere at the edge of the universe. Under arrest and standing trial are Apple and Google.

*  *  *

Q – You claim to care about the environment but make products with planned obsolescence so the people will have to run out and buy more of your eco-unfriendly rubbish!

Apple – Our iPads and iPhones are supported with security updates longer than Android’s

Google – Our Android OS is more flexible than iOS and lets users easily connect with non-Google products

Q – But you are both GUILTY of not providing essential updates after a fixed period… after which, consumers must run out and buy new hardware. Is this not true?

Apple and Google – [Ashamed silence]

Q – And while you posture about caring about planet Earth and its environment, are not your policies and limited support actually making things worse?

Apple and Google – [Ashamed silence]

Q – Do you know how much electronic waste is piling up around the world and how much pollution is generated by producing your products? And how about the natural resources you rape from this planet to create newer models while the older products would work just fine if you continued to provide security updates?

Apple and Google [In unison] – People need jobs and we need to make profits. This isn’t Joe Stalin’s Russia! Look at what happened to them!

Q – Silence! I now proclaim you both GUILTY and henceforth you must supply security updates for life!

Apple and Google – Sh**, that sucks!

*  *  *

And so ends my first play.

One solution I’ve found for the ridiculous timespan of Apple and Google operating systems is to just boycott both companies.

My last purchase was a very modest Windows laptop that’s more like a tablet in terms of power. It didn’t run very with Windows so I installed a free Linux OS called Lubuntu. The thing now flies and functions flawlessly with Linux.

The PC I’m currently writing on was retrieved from the curb in my neighborhood. It ran very slow on its native Windows 10 (with factory bloatware) so I replaced the OS with Lubuntu as well. Like my laptop, this machine flies with Linux.

One of the best, longest lasting free apps available today

True, not everyone is interested in learning a new OS. And Linux can be a bit daunting at first — I won’t lie. But like any new ‘language,’ once you get the basics down the learning curve flattens and you can enjoy those old Windows machines with full security for as long as they’ll spark up.

We also have an old iPad 2 that was a gift. My partial solution with the failing iOS for that old iPad was to use the Puffin Cloud browser (which can be fast) but without any meaningful data. When Puffin began to act up, I downloaded the VLC app, which much to its credit, still updates with the ancient iOS. With VLC I can ‘network stream’ my favorite radio station while viewing the relevant web page with Safari (Safari sometimes won’t produce any sound with the old iPad 2).

So I still get some limited use out of the iPad, which is far better than just tossing it.

Green Hypocrisy

Trudeau at yet another climate conference

I can’t help but wonder how many high-profile ‘green’ people run out and buy all the latest phones and tablets without thinking how much pollution those gadgets create, along with how much pollution throwing away their old stuff leaves behind. I can just see them, catching a jet plane to talk about the climate crisis, checking their new phone, and not realizing the hypocrisy of their double standards.

They’re ‘important’ so it’s okay for them to be wasteful. But as for the rest of us plebs, we should obey their commandments and pay their carbon taxes, even if they don’t practice what they preach and can easily afford an extravagant lifestyle.

I’d love to do a study and compare my carbon footprint to those flashy professors, pundits, and politicians who travel around the world preaching about the perils of climate change.

I bet with my quiet, humble lifestyle I’d come out way on top.😇

Old electronics are making children sick