"END OF LIFE" IS WRONGDOING

Declaring an "End of Life" (EOL) for any product causes a lot of trouble, waste, financial losses, data losses, losses of use of equipment, loss of government function, loss of work done, and destruction of wealth.

EOL effectively steals the product from the buyer.

Also effectively steals other products that can't work without the EOL product.

Various kinds of losses:

1. Required to buy new computers otherwise not needed
2. Required to buy or upgrade operating system
3. Required new application software (when old software won't run on new system)
4. Requires rewriting custom software so it can run on the new system
5. Requires converting large amounts of data to be used on the new system
6. Loss of many manhours of work to make the changes
7. Loss of many manhours of work retraining all of the staff to use the new system
8. Loss of the use of equipment that is not compatible with the new system
9. Expense of replacing computer controlled instrumentation (assuming replacements are available)
10. Loss of data stored in now-unreadable old file formats
11. Loss of data on discontinued storage media and older format hard drives
12. Total loss of software where no replacement is available that runs on the new system
13. Loss of integrity of any long-term scientific study because the original equipment becomes unusable
14. Loss of files because the proprietary data storage format can't be read by new software
15. Loss of equipment interface because the new computers can't accept the old interface connectors
16. Loss of use of software because copy-protection schemes failed when used on the new system.
17. New products don't work with old ones.
18. Old products don't work with new ones.
19. All of the old computers and equipment that become useless become solid waste.

Often the greed of collecting license fees and royalties is the reason an old product disappears from the market when its patent or copyright expires.

The spork is a classic example of a good product replaced by an inferior one when the patent expired.

Known examples of losses

1. WE ALMOST LOST THE 1960 CENSUS DATA
   • The census data were stored on 9-track reels of computer tape.
   • A few years later, the government converted to 7-track tape and sold the 9-track drives as scrap.
   • Only later did they realize they could not read the 9-track tapes with the census data.
   • They finally found a computer equipment collector who had the computer and equipment to read and print the data.
2. THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONSW COMMISSION (FCC) REQUIRED THAT ALL CITIZENS BAND (CB) RADIOS MUST BE REPLACED BECAUSE THEY CHANGED THE STANDARDS
   • They required all CB radios to have single sideband transmission instead of amplitude modulation.
   • This doubled the number of available channels.
   • None of the existing radios would work with the new modulations.
   • All of the existing radios became solid waste.
   • The lost value of the existing radios became destruction of wealth.
3. ALL USERS OF D-BASE DATABASES WERE SUDDENLY UNABLE TO USE THEIR DATA WHEN MICROSOFT UPGRADED MS-DOS
   • The MS-DOS upgrade was the first version that could have directories (folders) to hold files.
   • MS-DOS used the same byte in the filename to indicate that an entry was a folder that D-Base used to prove the software wasn't copied.
   • All of the D-BASE files suddenly became folders full of gibberish filenames.
   • D-BASE had to issue an emergency fix, but many data files were permanently destroyed.
4. TANDY SUDDENLY DISCONTINUED THE COLOR COMPUTER LINE, ORPHANING ALL DEVICES, SOFTWARE, AND USER FILES
   • Tandy had a very good computer system that was selling quite well. Many were developing software for it.

     (It was the first microprocessor-based home computer that could run a variant of UNIX.)

   • Someone not connected with Tandy developed a cheap adapter that let people play Nintendo cartridges on the Color Computer.
   • Nintendo sued Tandy, demanding that Tandy make their computers unable to run the Nintendo games.
   • A computer-illiterate intellectual-property judge ruled that Tandy must either modify the computers to not run Nintendo software or stop making the computers.

     (There is no possible way for the Color Computer to detect whether or not a Nintendo cartridge is running, because the Nintendo software itself is controlling the computer.
     The Nintendo cartridge itself must be modified to test to see if it is running on a Nintendo device. The judge should have ruled that this must be done.)

   • Everyone who bought these computers and their related equipment and software suddenly found out they had a dead-end system. Nothing they owned would work on any other computer.
   • All of these computers became solid waste and destroyed wealth.
   • Intellectual property rights were wrongly used to destroy wealth.
5. NASA SUDDENLY DISCOVERED THAT THE COMPUTER CHIPS AND SOFTWARE FOR THE SPACE SHUTTLE WERE DISCONTINUED
   • For the purpose of ultimate reliability and safety, NASA decided to permanently standardize on one set of computer chips and one version of an operating system.
   • NASA intended the design to be stable for many years (The shuttle lasted 30 years - 1981 to 2011).
   • As the computer industry continued to create bigger and better computers and software, the parts and software used in the Space Shuttle were discontinued by all manufacturers

     (because there were few known customers).

   • Software companies actually demanded that NASA must keep upgrading software. Because of the unreliability factor, NASA refused.

     (The Pentium computer chip bug and the Windows DST bug are examples of unreliability that can happen with an upgrade.)

6. MANY COMPUTERIZED LABORATORIES WERE TOTALLY DISABLED WHEN MICROSOFT AND INTEL STOPPED SUPPORTING MS-DOS COMPUTING
   • Many pieces of laboratory equipment were made to be used with programs and equipment that used the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) of the IBM PC and MS-DOS.
   • Laboratories and manufacturers had about 15 years of stability where these architectures and operating systems changed very little.
   • Intel developed new computers and Microsoft created new operating systems for them.
   • The old equipment and software would not work on the new computers.
   • The IT departments wanted all computers in the organization to be alike and to run the same operating system.
   • When the IT departments upgraded all of the computers in the organization to standardize on Windows, all of the laboratories stopped working.
   • Replacing the equipment would cost thousands of dollars
   • Some of the replacement equipment would not be ready for several years.
   • Many of the experiment timing protocols would not work with Windows because Windows starts and stops all application software every few milliseconds for multitasking.
   • The new computers did not have the ISA bus connectors the old equipment needed.
   • The new computers did not have Direct Memory Access (DMA) that the old equipment required.
   • Many labs wangled using the old computers with their equipment, but they eventually failed.
   • In total, the changeover to windows cost laboratories in the US billions of dollars.
   • The obsoleted equipment became destroyed wealth and solid waste.
7. THE FCC CHANGED THE TELEVISION STANDARD TO A DIGITAL HIGH DEFINITION SYSTEM
   • There was no need for the change. Some elitists wanted it.
   • The new system is totally incompatible with the old system.
   • A compatible system was proposed, but Microsoft strongly opposed it.
   • The new system effectively undid the Supreme Court ruling allowing people to tape TV programs.
   • The new system made many recordings using the old system unusable.
   • All of the old equipment (TV station, network, and consumer) became destroyed wealth and solid waste.
8. MICROSOFT CHANGING OPERATING SYSTEMS EVERY FEW YEARS MAKES LONG-TERM STUDIES INCOMPATIBLE WITH CETERIS PARIBUS
   • Ceteris Paribus is the standard for scientific studies meaning "ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL"

     (This means that nothing other than the observed variables is allowed to be changed for the duration of the study.)

   • The average lifespan for any computer is about 10 years.
   • Microsoft upgrades the operating system every 3 to 5 years.
   • Microsoft stops selling and supporting each operating system 1 or 2 years after the next one debuts.
   • UPDATING the operating system is a violation of Ceteris Paribus.
   • Changing to either a different computer or a different operating system violates Ceteris Paribus.
   • No scientific study using computers can last more than a few years with full validity.
   • The only way to keep Ceteris Paribus valid for longer periods is to do extensive studies with the old and new computers and operating systems.
     These studies must PROVE that the change will not change the data collected in any way.
9. MY (THE PAGE AUTHOR) RECORDING STUDIO, BUILT IN 1999, HAS BEEN RENDERED TOTALLY INOPERATIVE DUE TO STANDARDS CHANGES SINCE THEN.
   • I had everything needed to write a song, record it, and make a mastered CD.
   • Everything worked until the computers died.
   • None of the software I paid good money for works with any computer and operating system I can buy today. This money was STOLEN from me by Microsoft and Intel UPGRADES!
   • The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) has been discontinued.
   • I cannot read the sheet music files and the track configuration files. I can read the .wav sound files.
   • I can no longer use the multitrack tapes because the sync method is no longer available.
   • The tapes for the multitrack are no longer sold.
   • I could encode the old surround sound methods, but the new ones are totally incompatible.
10. THE FEDERAL GOVERRNMENT BANNED THE PRODUCTION OF MOST INCANDESCENT LIGHTBULBS, CAUSING MANY PROBLEMS WITH EXISTING EQUIPMENT
    • Many dimmers in existing electrical wiring and lamps do not work correctly with new types of lightbulbs.

      (The dimmers must be removed or replaced with new types.)

      (Some dimmers require a neutral wire for the circuit that might not be present in switch-loop wiring.)

    • Many pieces of equipment with large power consumption are designed to use incandescent lamps as ballasts.

      (The non-ohmic properties of lightbulbs can protect sensitive devices from overload.)

      The new lightbulbs cannot replace these lightbulbs for this purpose.

    • The new lightbulbs do not have the continuous visual spectrum that the incandescent and halogen lamps have.

      (There are gaps and dips in the spectral response of compact fluorescent and LED lamps.)

      This makes them useless for spectroscope sources.

11. BECAUSE THEIR PATENT EXPIRED, DOLBY LABS TOTALLY CHANGED THEIR SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM TO BE INCOMPATIBLE WITH THEIR PREVIOUS SYSTEM
    • Their old system was the Dolby Surround matrix system that was used from 1977 to 2014.
    • The patent with its extension expired in 2011.
    • Dolby so valued its patent royalties and licensing fees that it replaced Dolby Surround with Dolby Digital discrete surround sound at the expense of compatibility.
    • They now are changing the system again to Dolby Atmos because the digital patents are close to expiring.
    • Rather than keep compatibility with their old systems, they want you to buy the same movies again.
    • Nothing new is compatible with the hundreds of Dolby Surround recordings that people already have.
    • Removal of Dolby Surround matrix removes all compatibility with Quadraphonic records that many people have.
    • They want you to buy the recording again, causing solid waste and destruction of wealth.
    • When you buy the recording twice, you are paying the royalty to the artist twice, when they are entitled to only one payment (cheat cheat cheat).
    • We have a large incompatible mish-mosh of sound and video recording formats as a result.
12. THE NEW PHONOGRAPH RECORDS ARE INCOMPATIBLE W2ITH OLDER RECORD PLAYERS.
    • The new records do not follow the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) standard completely.
    • The RIAA standard calls for a 9/32-inch center hole.
    • The new records have a 1/4-inch hole. They do not fit the spindles on many existing record players.

The US Bureau of Standards was originally created to insure compatibility between old technology and new technology, so old and new products can be used together. Now it just rubber-stamps new standards without caring what the new standards do to existing standards.

THE PEOPLE DESERVE A SINGLE SET OF STANDARDS, NOT A HODGE-PODGE OF INCOMPATIBLE STANDARDS!