There is currently a citizen initiative to get a law in place that makers of software must not make the software become unusable after they end support. While this is directly about games, it has implications for things like cars, tractors, medical devices, and anything that has a significant software component. I encourage my EU friends and colleagues to consider signing and explaining to their friends why it's important for them to sign even if they don't play games. Here's a video that explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkMe9MxxZiI Here's tha petition: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/ Sorry this is a bit off-topic, but I think it's important to the entire software industry. ../Dave

How would this impact software that is licensed on a subscription basis? What if some functionality in the application requires a server component. Is the vendor required to provide that server component forever? Or is the vendor prohibited from building applications that have a server component? I have a deep suspicion of government regulation of business arrangements like this. James > On Aug 3, 2024, at 5:47 AM, David Mason <dmason@torontomu.ca> wrote: > > There is currently a citizen initiative to get a law in place that makers of software must not make the software become unusable after they end support. > > While this is directly about games, it has implications for things like cars, tractors, medical devices, and anything that has a significant software component. > > I encourage my EU friends and colleagues to consider signing and explaining to their friends why it's important for them to sign even if they don't play games. > > Here's a video that explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkMe9MxxZiI > > Here's tha petition: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/ > > Sorry this is a bit off-topic, but I think it's important to the entire software industry. > > ../Dave