the+economic+and+psychological+implications+of+planned+IT+obsolescence+in+hardware,+software+andservices,+which+has+been+forced+on+consumers+by+the+IT+industry

Obsolescence

Obsolescence occurs when a product eventually becomes useless and is no longer produced or used because it has become out of date, due to the production of new, efficient and more useful products.For example floppy disks have become obsolete due to the creation and production of CD's and memory sticks to store memory.

The issue

t he issue here is that as companies in the computer industry produce new software, hardware, and service, they are to a point forcing the owner of an older software or hardware to update. As technology improves, standard of specs and functions increases. Therefore if you do not update your hardware and software, you will not be able to be interactive in the society as there will be compatibility issues. Those with newer software, hardware will be able to open data that comes from a computer with older software and hardware, but many times, not the other way around. Often, companies will stop offering technical support to older hardware and software, making customers tempted to buy the newer version.

Advantages and disadvantages

One advantage for companies in computer industry to produce new, updated software is that they are improving technology and contributing to the society. Also, obviously, they are making more money by producing updated products. Disadvantage for the companies to make updated software is that if there is not much difference from the previous one, the product will not sell. Advantage for customers to upgrade is that the performance of the product increases, which increases efficiency and quality of whatever task the product is meant to do. The disadvantage is that they will have to keep on paying ridiculously high prices for every upgraded products.