this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2025
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598
Campaigners urge EU to mandate 15 years of OS updates (www.theregister.com)
submitted 1 month ago by SleafordMod@feddit.uk to c/technology@lemmy.world
142 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Should OS makers, like Microsoft, be legally required to provide 15 years of security updates?

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[–] nucleative@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (12 children)

15 years is too long, it doesn't match the state of the industry or technological progress.

If anything this slows down innovation which leads me to suspect the 15 year idea was though of by someone who dislikes any technical changes.

[–] bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 month ago (4 children)

15 years is actually reasonable.

I have a ten year old laptop with an i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD. It still does most things, I bought it for initially just fine. Granted this was one of the best laptops you could buy at the time.

Apple stopped supporting it with a current version of macOS a couple of years ago sadly. It’s still possible to patch newer versions to install and run on the old machine, but it’s a bit of a hassle.

[–] phillipp@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But unlike server aided services an OS still keeps working. You can use that PC for 10 more years, if you like.

I think there’s a discrepancy in the understanding of ‘support’ and what it entails in different technology fields. Demanding to receive NEW features for decades is not feasible in the current economic environment.

[–] bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

The biggest issue is security updates and a current internet browser.

Of course I can use a 30 year old computer that still works with the software it can run.

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