Planned obsolescence is not a natural phenomenon like the tides. Yet most of us accept it as such. I’ve been forced to think about this because my computer is not long for this world. Eight years ago, it was as up to date as can be. Now, Mac OS 10.3 is evidently one step removed from a stone tablet.

That in itself is a solvable problem. But the friendly and knowledgeable computer person who advised me on new computer options calmly told me that some of my crucial software programs won’t be readable on the latest system. I will have a great many files that will become unreadable (yes, I do back up) without having to cobble together some cumbersome solution.

“New and improved” is marketing gospel. Well, it’s mighty big business — as much as trillion is spent on marketing in the United States alone. People have to buy a whole lot of stuff to justify all the money spent on them to buy it. If products work for a long time, people won’t be moved to buy all that “new and improved” stuff. That’s where planned obsolescence comes in — it’s simply big corporations forcing us to buy new stuff.

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If you know someone who's proficient in Linux, and they're willing to install it on your computer, you may want to consider trying that. (There are also individuals who will do it for a fee.) As you may know, Linux is free and non-proprietary.

Before I tried Linux, I was warned that it's "geeky," but even though I'm not a technical person, I decided to try it. The version I'm currently on, Linux Mint, has been completely trouble-free since it was installed for me early-to-mid summer 2012. I can't say I ever enjoyed such a trouble-free period when I was on Microsoft. (Linux Mint automatically updates itself, so when something like Adobe needs to be upgraded, I don't have to worry about it.)

There are things that you have to figure out for yourself (or get advice on), and--surprise, surprise--some products are designed to only be compatible with Windows and Apple. For example, I was unable to download a Nook book I bought from Barns & Noble, but I just viewed it on someone else's computer. And Netflix's play-on-demand isn't compatible with Linux, so I still rent their DVDs. Also, on the previous version of Linux I had, I could never figure out how to play CDs (though, I imagine there was a way I didn't know about). However, these are all things I've been able to live with.

I've enjoyed being free of Microsoft. I still have to replace hardware as needed, though, a lot of it I can find for free on the Yahoo Group LA ReUseIt. (I got some great speakers through that site from a person half-a-mile away from me.)

Viruses haven't been much of a problem because most of them target Microsoft users since they're so numerous, and there are relatively few Linux users.