To OP: this is a much clearer & better explanation for what I was trying to say.

This is an imperfect analogy, but think of updating between Windows 10 and 11 versus installing updates on windows 10 or win 11.

I have no experience with Fedora, but AFAIK at least in Ubuntu/Debian land, updates are installed from OS version specific package repositories. When the version of the OS is no longer supported, those repositories might not receive updates anymore.

EDIT: this is the main reason I have a rolling release distro on most of my personal machines. The package repos have the newest packages without having to update my OS major version every now and then.

Anyone got any idea how this would work at a high level? I get that for static images some neural nets are “reducing” noise from random/base images based on prompts, but is this based on the same idea?

What happens, when the non smart microwave finally breaks and only smart ones are being sold? You could buy used, but what happens when that used inventory is used up?

Fortunately in case of microwaves, the simpler ones have the same internal parts as smart ones, and as such some supply is most likely going to be available.

The situation in the article is for sure unique, as replacing implants with a newer version is probably not feasible. Many other simpler medical devices are different, as they could be replaced as needed.

Going bankrupt is not the only potential issue. There can also be situations, where a company makes several generations of a product, and abandons support for the old ones.

This is already a serious concern with eg. older gen chip fabrication. The machinery required for each generation was built when that gen was new, and when that machinery breaks down, it might not be economical to rebuild that capability.

Is this really a year old post? It was a good read regardless.

To comment on the topic, this is going to happen more and more, especially as proprietary stuff becomes more and more complex. With implants it’s obviously more serious, but this also applies to anything from cars to game consoles.

I’m no stranger to scrounging junkyards for car parts or ebay to replace components from an old console. However that cannot go on forever, as parts get more rare. This is somewhat remedied with eg. nintendo consoles, where some reproduction parts are available (cartridges, screens etc.). With more niche and increasingly complex products this option is often not available.

TBH this is nothing new. They already randomly restrict you from viewing any type of nsfw content on the mobile browser version. It prompts you to download the app with no option to close the prompt.