Yesterday, July 31, 2022, was actually a unique tech day for people of a certain age. It was the "birthday" of one George Jetson of Saturday morning cartoon fame. "The Jetsons," set in 2062, was about what life would be like in the future (at a time when George was 40 years old). The show only lasted one season (24 episodes), but it had a huge impact on the way we think about technology.
Although we don't yet have jetpacks, flying cars, robotic maids, or moving walkways, technology is slowly but surely making its way into every aspect of our lives. Many of the things we rely on today are reflected in the technology George Jetson uses: flat-screen TVs, video chats (or Facetime), smart watches, drones (young Elroy looks like he's in a drone headed for the school), vacuum Cleaners that work alone. , digital newspapers and talking alarm clocks.
Of course, with change comes obsolescence. One thing that never seemed to come with the Jetsons was how people handled outdated software, patches, and what they did with old cables that everyone seems to have saved these days.
Another problem that never arises in the world of television, how to manage technology that you like, but not the provider. Take Windows 8 Media Center, for example. Show me someone who installed Windows 8 Media Center years ago, and chances are you're talking about someone who still loves it. And yet, not only does it regularly break with updates, Microsoft included an end-of-life alert in the July updates. (Even the Wikipedia entry on Windows Media Center calls it an "outdated digital video recorder and media player.")
Introduced in 2002 in the Windows XP Media Center edition, it was included in the Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Windows Vista, as well as Windows 7 (except Starter and Home Basic). On Windows 8 and 8.1 Pro, you can install it as a paid add-on. Finally, with Windows 10, Microsoft said goodbye to it, although there are still ways to install the Media Center code today.
KB5015874 and the July servicing stack update (KB5016264) include end-of-life reminders. First of all, Windows 8.1 is nearing end of support (which happens on January 10, 2023) and you will see the warning screen about this delay after the security update. Secondly, after installing the update, users found that the Media Center tuner is unable to record TV shows. User "Bertmace" on the GreenButton forums discovered that once he replaced a dll file with a version prior to the update, the registration process would work again. "I replaced the faulty ehTrace .dll and everything works fine and I installed KB5015874 and KB5016264 back to 6.3.9600.16384 21/11/2014 ehTrace.dll, version: 6.3.9600.20473, is the folder that causes .ehome," Bertmace wrote.
Windows Home Server, Essentials Server, Storage Server Essentials and other Home Server family products are another platform that once had a large enthusiast base that has been left behind with resources for different products or even discontinued al cabo de los años. Although the OEM version of Windows Storage Server Essentials lasts an extremely long period of support, the reality is that the platform is seen as more fragile and atrás. Es important recordar que, si bien Microsoft launches muchos products, no siempre se construyen de la misma manera o con exactamente el mismo código.
For example, Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 has three editions: Essentials, Standard, and Workgroup. Essentials, released in 2014, has an extended support window through October 10, 2023, and includes code it shares with the Windows Home Server edition that performs desktop backup and automatic deduplication.
Windows Home Server and Windows Server Essentials editions allowed users to remotely access their desktops simply by logging into a web portal. One problem I've seen on these platforms is that the Microsoft-provided domain name - offered through GoDaddy - tends to break at least once a year when someone forgets to renew a certificate or moves web services without reactivating them. It is clear that it is no longer a product that a team is responsible for monitoring periodically.
Media Center and Home Server editions are just two examples of technologies that, while popular, are falling behind. When this happens, it's time to investigate alternatives.
It's not just software, of course. There is the classic case of floppy drives and CD roms. For years I bought computers that had to have floppy drives, the older ones were 5 ¼ inches. disk size But even though technology has moved away from saving files to floppy drives, look in any computer program for a save file prompt and guess what's still used as an icon: a floppy disk. (Young computer users who have no idea what a floppy disk is, or was, often think of the icon as a Coke machine with a dispensing screen.)
As I said before, I don't remember George Jetson having to deal with outdated technology. Hopefully in 60 years we won't have to either.
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