I have a 2004 Powerbook (G4 Aluminum, 15″) that my parents are using. It’s a beautiful machine, the aluminum body doesn’t show wear and the minimalist design is timeless. The only hardware problem is the battery that died some years ago, but as it is used mostly as a stationary it does not matter.

The problems begun when I had to reinstall the operative system. I hadn’t touched the system and it was still running OS X Panther (10.3). I reinstalled with the original disks. And then the problems started.

• There weren’t any programs available for OS X 10.3, no skype, no firefox, no flash, nothing. In the end I could find some legacy installers from external websites, but I couldn’t restore it to the original state. The firefox available for Panther is so outdated that many websites complain or don’t show correctly.
• I thought about installing a new OS, but the new Snow Leopard is just for intel macs, not available for old PPCs. What about buying Leopard or Tiger that could install in PPC? Apple don’t sell them anymore.
• Alright, trying Open Source. I installed Ubuntu for PPC. But most applications wouldn’t install on it.

So, suddenly I have a perfectly functional computer that it cannot really be used just because Apple decided to not support their own technology anymore. Software obsolescence.

I would still try to fix the computer, find some copy of Tiger that I can still, but that would be just delaying its death one year, as PPC or dual applications are not being supported anymore. My first thought and probably the response that any user would get from support is: buy a new one. Laptops mean life is around 3 years, with 6 years this one has have a long life.

But if we take in account that most of the environmental impact of the computer is connected to hardware production, shortening its lifespan and promoting buying new equipment is not the most sustainable strategy. This is quite connected to the Make It Green guideline: Support legacy systems, don’t design software just for the latest technologies and keep pushing the users towards buying new stuff.

* CC Photo from Redjar

I’m the kind of person (mac user, usually early adopter) that should have got an iphone. I should probably have gotten one of the first generation for more than one year ago. But all the hype, the apple locks and limitations, that you almost have to “sell your soul” to the operator to get one, that it didn’t have any special new technical functionality that my p1 didn’t already have, I didn’t like the input mode (I like hand written recognition)…

Now we have got one for the persuasive services project to develop some applications. And after one week I was sold. It is just too good, I understood the hype. The app store and the amount of creative things people have made for it just rocks. And with the interface and easiness to use typical of apple.

So what happened with my first 2009 challenge:

>To go completely mobile for all my work & leisure activities. From sending emails, blogging (I’m writing this from my mobile), editing papers…Why mobile? I have the opinion that mobiles are key for sustainability. Not only  they have a small carbon footprint (around 25kg per subscriber and year), but they are the most widely lCT product in the world, ever, 60% of the world population owns one.

Iphone solved all that in one week:

• Email + safari + contacts + calendar. All basic functions works perfectly, in sync with my macbook, they make my life much easier.
• Outpost. Having control over my basecamp account in my mobile was what I was waiting for. Killer app.
• Flickr works beautifully on it.
• Fring for having Skype.
• Tweetie for microblogging.
• WordPress for blogging.
• TouchTerm for having SSH terminal access to my servers and fixing technical things on the go.
• And more, from reading ebooks, to writing notes, to planning routes… And if it’s not there yet probably it will soon.

But there are some questions arising:

1.  Convergence of devices. Iphone is as powerful as many computers, and with telephone capabilities as good as any phone. There is few things I will need a computer to (if I didn’t need to program and such things). Will be follow japan’s lead and abandon computers towards personal mobile devices?

2. What interesting green applications can you do with this toy? I’ll post a list of some applications I have been testing.

3. Hardware sustainability. I feel bad about having still another electronic device. What is the impact of changing electronics so often? What is the real impact to the environment? and for climate change? Is there any possibility to reverse this trend and reduce the impact? how? I’ll try to develop my ideas about this in a following article.