On Fri, Jun 02, 2023 at 05:34:58PM +0200, Mario Marietto wrote:
Excuse me,but there is something within your argumentation that I don't like and I want to express what it is. Let's take Linux as an example of what I want to say. Linux is well known to be an OS that can be installed on the old machines,helping the people that can't buy a new computer to surf the net and to do the basic things that they couldn't do using a more complete and modern PC built with new hardware components. And this is a linux quality that everyone loves and one of the reasons why Linux is growing faster on the market.
This is a misunderstanding of a general purpose OS. netbsd is the project that supports old hardware for the sake of old hardware. Linux has never been that, and when the choice comes to supporting something old or supporting something new, the decision is generally to abandon the old. There's no other way to make progress. If both can coexist, fine--but if you want something that specifically caters to (functionally obsolete) hardware you need a project with that as a goal rather than a project that has general utility as a goal.
But,first of all,I think that there are a LOT of old PCs in the world,since poor people aren't only a niche.
I think you underestimate the scale of the e-waste problem. Simply giving people better, less obsolete, hardware is (IMO) a much better use of resources than trying to continue to use older hardware for no real reason other than a desire to use really old hardware. Even just considering environmental consciousness, saving a 5 year old PC from the landfill and throwing out a 10 year old PC is a net positive in terms of energy efficiency if nothing else.