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You completely misunderstood my point. Yes bit-rot exists, but that's not what I was talking about. Software doesn't rot like food, it just stops being useful for its intended purpose if left un-updated for too long.

Just look at my 10 year old Android phone. It still boots and works just fine, but having not received anymore SW updates for 8 years, it's completely unusable for its intended purpose today despite it still running. There's nothing wrong with the hardware, OLED screen is still very bright and sharp and I changed the battery and everything, but with such old unmaintained software it's basically an e-waste paperweight now.

Most software doesn't stay useful forever, and without updates it has a shelf-life, as most software becomes useless after a while if left un-updated. So yes, my point stands, old un-updated software provides no value in most cases.



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