I get that there won’t be any security updates. So any problem found can be exploited. But how high is the chance for problems for an average user if you say, only browse some safe websites? If you have a pc you don’t really care much about, without any personal information? It feels like the danger is more theoretical than what will actually happen.
Or… are there any examples of people (not corpos) getting wrecked in the past by an eol OS?
It seems like part of your thinking is: Why would a criminal invest effort to attack an average John Doe? The answer is: With a popular (widely used) operating system, the effort goes close to zero. Attacks can be automated, so they will be. Also, even if they are not interested in your data, they will be interested in other benefits they gain from controlling your computer:
- Computing power e.g. for Bitcoin mining
- Your internet connection to attack other computers via yours, taking your computer to hide their identity and location. This is commonly done as DDOS for blackmailing businesses or silencing websites. Or for sending spam or fake reviews.
- Your identity. If they can get your name, they can order stuff on your name, which will get you a bad credit score or even criminal charges (identity theft)
- Access to your local network. Many devices are easier to hack via local network access than from the internet. A criminal who took control of your computer could for example take over your “smart” appliances or WiFi printer.
Practice good hygiene and it’ll be fine The trouble is that modern apps are forced to adopt features which depend on the new OS. Your old one will be incompatible, on purpose
The security aspect is secondary to the monetary growth and recuperation of investment in the new OS.
They spent all those monies to make it “AI” betting that you will eat it up and pay up. Now there will be significant pressure for them to “increase adoption” or someone gets fired
OP, don’t be stupid. Update your OS.
I do, just wanted to know more about how bad stuff actually would be if you wouldn’t. Asked questions, learned a lot.
Fair enough. My apologies.
Unless it’s to Windows 11. Then stubbornly decline every week that it harasses you until the end of time.
Windows 11 is literally just a reskin of win10, but with added HDR functionality. There’s zero reason not to upgrade.
They almost snuck this dystopian nightmare into it. So yes, don’t trust any future windows upgrades from here on out. Who knows what they still have in it that we didn’t find out with this amount of backlash:
Really annoys me that Apple has a policy of no more updates after 7 years (or when they change the CPU architecture enough) — that’s hardcore planned obsolescence & I think it made their hardware quality worse over time (in addition to being unrepairable)
Super lame. While I’m ranting, their trade in program is a scam that doesn’t pay out almost ever. And otherwise they will “recycle it for free” making money Im sure
So yeah I’m pretty sure the era of MacBook superiority is over & imma buy a considerably higher spec System 76 laptop instead which comes with a repair bible for pretty much every scenario and is upgradeable
I am not using apple products myself any more, but 7 years of guaranteed support seems very reasonable, especially when our dumb ass economy runs on constant consumption and growth. They could just as easily make their devices break a week after the legally required warranty period is over, and you’d have to buy another
Seeming reasonable in the context of the madness of constant growth is still not reasonable. I get what you mean, but we need to demand better of the ultra powerful if we want to see better in our lifetime.
Seven years for a phone right now is pretty reasonable. For a laptop, it’s absolutely not.
No but you see, there’s no reason a newer osx can’t run on their older hardware most of the time. You can install new windows on an old laptop if it has the specs. It’s not like they lost the drivers or whatever. It’s a choice they made, cutting off users from security updates & newer apps & leaving them with a vulnerable device
Apple is trash but this is like the least trashy thing they do honestly
only browse some safe websites
Drive-by downloads exist. They can come from “safe sites” via an ad network and if you are running an EOL OS, chances are you are running an EOL web browser with some well known remote code exploit
Security bad when not updated anymore.
All talk about websites in the comments, but what about using just an email client and maybe ssh, rsync etc.
Show me a single person that uses these tools exclusively and does not care about updating their machine.
And even then: ssh does have vulnerabilities. Email clients also usually render HTML, which means they have a browser engine under the hood.
Sure, if you’re actually being safe and following good security practices, the risk is low, but the average user does not follow all the best practices.
The average user starts on their usual websites and doesn’t even remember clicking on a link that leads elsewhere.
It’ll probably be fine for a while.
Corporations still run windows XP / 2008 server, even 2003 server in cases. Add long as they are not exposed directly to the internet is fine.
