[snowwrestler]

Yes there are things that are sad about it. A 5-year-old PC is probably not running a recent version of Windows, and has a higher likelihood of being compromised. And if a person wants a new computer but can't afford it, that is sad too.

That said, it was an obviously stupid stat for Schiller to cite. But now we're going to be subjected to a long series of Apple-bashing articles that overreach in the opposite direction. By the end of today we'll see multiple "actually, I'm proud to be running 5-year-old PC" posts.

Why? Because when mining for pageviews, there are few veins as rich as bashing Apple.

Edit to add: If we want to talk about the tech industry and poor people, let's do so. How many new companies are variations of "let us bring things to your door for you for an extra fee" or "let's give you personalized service so you don't have to go shopping/ride a bus/interact with a human"?

[Mikeb85]

A 5 year old PC is likely running Windows 7, which still receives upgrades, is supported, and is quite secure. Of course, all Windows 7 PCs received a free upgrade path to Windows 10. So there's no reason they couldn't be running the most recent Windows, without spending a dime.

Of course, they could also be running something like Ubuntu (Linux counter puts the number at 73 million, W3Counter at 2.58% of all devices, or just under half OSX's numbers in that counting method), in which case they'd also likely be running a recent OS, one which is arguably more secure than either Windows or OSX.

I don't think it's 'offensive' what Schiller says. But it does speak to Apple's mentality, where planned obsolescence and profit trumps all, and the faithful buy into it...

[detaro]

>A 5-year-old PC is probably not running a recent version of Windows,

Windows 7 came out 7 years ago, is still reasonably supported, and you get a free upgrade to Windows 10 for it.

> And if a person wants a new computer but can't afford it, that is sad too.

And an iPad Pro for 600$-1200$ is very likely not the answer for them.

I agree, it's a lot of talk about a single stupid statement, but I think it is a really stupid statement, on multiple levels.

[elthran]

> A 5-year-old PC is probably not running a recent version of Windows

Windows 7 was released in 2009, and all official owners of Windows 7 were offered the Windows 10 upgrade. I'd be surprised if many PCs that are 5 years old aren't running one of these 2 OSs

[trey-jones]

I'm proud to be running my almost-seven-year-old PC, though I think it is about time for an upgrade. I also have a 2013 Macbook Pro, which is more than adequate for work. I'm not exactly poor, and I abhor the way the media runs away with this kind of comment.

But I also get a little peeved at overzealous marketing that takes advantage of people's ignorance. Convincing people that their 5 year old PC no longer meets their needs (when it probably does) is pretty similar to convincing some poor sucker to switch to your super duper maximum strength 4G Long Term Evolution wireless network because you can have 20G of data per month, when you actually only use 0.5G of data per month.