It is really great to buy a new computer with specifications that would have looked like science fiction just two or three years ago. The truth of the matter is that although the specs for PCs are improving astronomically from one year to the next, the performance of the computers never really seems to improve.
Microsoft Vista has been Microsoft's least successful operating system releases ever. Initially full of bugs, the systems has major compatibility issues with pre-Vista programs and components. All sorts of components have been rendered useless. My flatbed scanner has been rendered useless. Vista has been widely criticized by its users. Initially released full of bugs, Microsoft has released upgrade after upgrade, but the compatibility issue remains the same.
Computer waste has been a problem for quite a few years. With Vista as the main operating system, the problem has reached epidemic proportions!
It is really great to buy a new computer with specifications that would have looked like science fiction just two or three years ago. The truth of the matter is that although the specs for PCs are improving astronomically from one year to the next, the performance of the computers never really seems to improve.
The result is that computers become obsolete in record breaking time. Within two years you have to start thinking of replacing. And the disposal of old machines and old computer equipment in general is becoming a major waste hazard. All sorts of chemicals go into the making of a computer and the waste can be particularly hazardous if the waste seeps into the drinking water supply.
One of the main reasons that computers become obsolete so quickly lies in the development of new operating systems that are more and more resource hungry. Although we are now buying super sophisticated machines with more memory, processing power and disk space than ever before, we don’t enjoy the benefits. Windows Vista is a major culprit. Being very resource hungry you need a dual processor just to run it. You need at least 2 Gigabytes of memory so prevent everything from just grinding to a halt. You need 50 GB of disk space for the operating system.
What this means is that if everyone had to change to Vista, 60% of the computers on the planet are rendered useless. If everyone changes to Vista Ultimate (the top end of the operating system) then 90% of the world’s computers become obsolete. They become fit for nothing more than to accumulate on a rubbish dump. Some of the components may be suitable for recycling but who bothers?
There is a sort of symbiotic relationship between Microsoft and Intel. Without the frequent updating of operating systems there would be little need for more and more powerful machines. It would not be necessary to replace our computers every three years.
The motherboard of my three year old computer blew. The new motherboards cannot handle the four year old processor. The memory on the old machine is of an obsolete type. The alternative was to replace, and replace I did. But what do I do with the old components that still work? It is rendered waste. I have a huge collection of old motherboards, processors, power supplies …. I don’t feel comfortable just throwing it all out. So it accumulates at home.
PCs have not been around for very long. Before that most machines were of the mainframe type. These had to be upgraded and replaced from time to time, but not on the scale that we have today.
So what is to be done?
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