# Stop IT waste

What we buy determines what companies produce and in what quantity.
If we buy their products in vast quantities we are telling them that 
they are producing what we want.

Do you really want to buy devices which spy on you or have a 
pre-planned end of life, likely way before they physically expire?

Non replaceable batteries, non upgradable components, time-limited
software updates, specialist repair centres, use of low quality
materials, all contribute toward an early end to the useful life for 
our devices. The term for it is planned-obsolescence. 1. 

The biggest drivers of this ever quickening turnover of hardware are 
mobile phone and tablet manufacturers. 


## Personal experience

I unfortunately own two android tablets, one is already obsolete and 
could only be rescued with a custom firmware. The other is heading the
same way, even though it is a high specification tablet, there are no
further firmware updates from the manufacturer and gradually apps are
requiring newer and newer versions of android to run them.

I remember when you bought a piece of hardware and it worked until it
physically didn't. Any applications that were installed would
continue to function as they did from the day you bought the device. 
Now it's quite possible for you to turn on your phone or tablet and 
discover an app crippled by an automatic update because the developer
wants you to use something else or they decided to increase the
minimum OS version requirement. This recently happened with the play
app on my android phone and tablets. A basic feature that I bought 
the device with, mp3 playing, was suddenly crippled by an update. I 
couldn't revert back to the previous version, but I could uninstall 
all updates to return me to the factory installed app. This restored 
the function, but how many people would have just followed the notice
to use youtube music or whatever? 

These practices are manipulative and fundamentally wrong.


## Reversing the trend

My suggestion is for you to understand what you need and find
suitable, preferably used, hardware to fulfill that need. There is 
only one way to signal to companies that you dislike their products, 
or the direction they are taking with them and that is to not buy 
them.
Older computers are far more upgradeable than new ones and, with the 
correct choice of operating system, give you far more freedom over its
use. For example, a core 2 duo with 2 - 4 Gb RAM will speedily run 
Linux or one of the BSD's, where as with windows 10 it will struggle.
The majority of people can and should work effectively using Linux  
or one of the BSD's and readily available open source software.

There are two reasons I suggest used hardware. The first, is that it 
sends no signal to the supply chain that there is more demand. The 
second, from an environmental standpoint, you are using something 
which has already been made and so making no further impact on the 
environment. To continue using items as long as you can is a big win
for your bank balance and the environment; no new item has to be made
and no old item has to be disposed of.


## Living by my principles

### Phone

My daily carry is now a Nokia E71. 2. After thinking about what 
functionality I actually needed and how I'd been let down by various 
messaging apps (Fring, WhatsApp, Signal ...), I decided upon self 
hosting an XMPP server and reverting to SMS for contacts without 
XMPP. Finding an XMPP client for the Nokia took some time but it was 
worth it to be able to use my data for messaging again.

Functions I use:
  * Calls
  * SMS 
  * IM (XMPP)
  * Navigation
  * Alarm clock
  * Calendar
  * Calculator
  * mp3 player
  * Camera

Possibly I will upgrade to an E72 or Blackberry Classic at some point.

### Computers

I have two 4U ATX rackmount cases which I purchased around 15 years
ago. The internals have been upgraded several times. One of them
ran as a server for 12 years or more, the other has been a desktop. 
Upgrades have been purchased off Ebay, usually, with some new 
components like HDD's, drive caddies and PSUs from other sources. The 
most recent upgrade was to a used core 2 duo motherboard bundle which 
replaced an ailing dual celeron motherboard which had several leaking 
capacitors. 3.


Foot notes:
1. [Planned Obsolescence](gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Planned%20obsolescence)
2. [My Nokia E71](gopher://gopher.icu/0/phlog/Computing/Nokia-E71-in-2021.md)
3. I intend to replace the capacitors on the Abit BP6 board.

Note: For full disclosure I do still have an android phone which I 
use at home, without a sim-card, for LINE contacts and Strava.