Keeping technology useful for longer
A circular economy keeps products and materials in use for longer. For technology, that means more than maintaining and repairing physical equipment. It also means keeping the software, drivers and services available that allow the equipment to work.
A printer may still be mechanically sound when its driver stops working with a newer computer. An audio interface may still play and record sound while losing the app that controls its mixer. Replacement software or a workaround can restore useful functions and give owners more choice over when to replace equipment.
The European Environment Agency identifies incompatibility between hardware and updated software as one reason electronics can fall out of use. Read the EEA briefing.
Compatibility can extend useful life
Community projects can help equipment work with newer Windows and macOS systems, or with Linux. They can also open up use on a platform the manufacturer never supported. A useful fix may restore one function rather than everything the original software offered.
The Samsung SCX-4200 project restores basic USB printing on Windows 11 ARM. Scarlett MixControl Community Edition restores mixer and routing controls for a first-generation audio interface on supported Macs. Making work like this easier to find lets more owners benefit and gives others a starting point for improvements.
Value for owners and communities
Keeping equipment useful can avoid the expense and disruption of replacement, preserve familiar tools and make second-hand or donated devices more valuable. It can help people and organisations with limited budgets and keep more of the value of the materials and energy used in manufacture. A solution still needs to fit the owner: setup effort, security, extra hardware and ongoing maintenance matter.
The Global E-waste Monitor 2024 estimates that the world generated 62 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste in 2022. The share caused by lost software support or compatibility is not established by that total. Read the ITU summary.
Keep Things Working brings useful fixes together so they can reach more owners, be understood more easily and be improved by others.