Hard-/Software expiration date
Hardware and software have a very short lifecycle – like dairy products – and come with an expiration date,
Last time i checked all dairy products had a best use before date on the outside of the packaging; i haven't seen a router that specified when it will go EOL like that.
Dairy products go bad with time and there is no way to revert that process so you can't repair them.
Software doesn't go bad, bugs are usually in there from the get go and some get known over time but that can be patched.
Hardware should easily be able to work for longer than 5 years and any it should be possible to replace parts that fail early.
IMHO the very short lifecycle of hard- and software is artificially created by design as the vendors want their customers to make recurring purchases.
At the least Vendors should have to specify the earliest date they might decide to no longer provide patches and replacement parts.
The source code along with instructions how to set up the build infrastructure and build and install the binaries on the device should be put in escrow and once the vendor declares it EOL the customers should get access.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
