An interesting byproduct of the current cost-cutting business mode is getting press – squeezing more life out of your current hardware or expecting longer use when buying servers. I’m glad to see that simply because it seems very wasteful and really bad for the environment to go three-years-and-out on hardware. There’s got to be a better way to deal with older equipment and this is a step in the right direction.
In my experience, I’ve been getting 4 years out of a Windows server, 6 years out of a Linux server, 2.5 years out of a Windows laptop (with one OS rebuild required about halfway through) and a stunning 7-9 years out of Apple hardware (three OS upgrades included, desktop or laptop). Besides, do most people really need a P4 or more? The power consumption, heat problems, and other challenges of new hardware could be avoided if more people (OK, not the gamers but everyone else) would just buy a Duron or equivalent and quit worrying about keeping up with the folks down the street…
