Ya know, I beat helloutta my machines - borderin' on, even strayin' into, the realm of abuse. I've had some software issues, and some hardware issues - some due to component failure, and some due to my own ill-advised actions - prolly much, much more of the latter than of the former. Gotta say maintenance and repair will keep any machine runnin' a surprisingly long time. Hell, I've got a tractor over 50 years old, and use the thing damned near every day. It ain't pretty, it ain't sophisticated, it ain't real powerful, but it gets its jobs done - and even manages to pull of some jobs clearly beyond its design limits - if handled right.
One of my 'puters is almost 15 years old; all its done for years now is run my home control/home security stuff - thermostat settin's, certain lights or appliances on/off at preset times, driveway and outbuildin' motion detectors, fire/water/ice detection, general weather monitorin' and recordin', that sorta thing. Its needed a few repairs over the years, sure - but its up to the job it has and it does it just fine. Replacin' it with somethin' newer and more capable would be impractical - the software it uses to do its job not only is no longer commercially available, but is unsupported by current operatin' systems. Thst one I mostly just forget about unless it goofs.
I think an awful lotta 'puters - and other stuff of all sorts - are written off and replaced when a little TLC woulda been all that was needed. "Unserviceable" generally is a state-of-mind thing - nobody "fixes" stuff today, they just dump it when it gets cranky, or somethin' neater comes along, replacin' it with the newest gewgaw. I think thats silly.
I just add the newest gewgaw to the assortment. It drives Mrs Timber nuts; she's always sayin' I've got more toys than any 3 "normal" people can play with, and she refers to my desk, my basement workbench, and my shop area out in the garage as "disaster areas" - won't even go near 'em.
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