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Windows 7 Retirement, Smart Home Gear, iPad Anniversary
By Bob DeLaurentis SENIOR NEWS
Q. I see that Windows 7 is no longer support- ple. Sanos said they would no longer provide
ed by Microsoft. Do I have to upgrade right software updates to a group of products that
away? they sold as recently as five years ago. Custom-
A. If you found a 10-year old can of beans in ers, understandably, were furious.
your pantry, would you eat it? How about an Dropping support for software is not new. But
ancient jar of mayonnaise? Just like old food when that software is baked into a speaker or
hidden away in the back of a cupboard, there is an electric outlet, a perfectly functional device
no single magic date when a long-lived tech can suddenly become obsolete. When you pur-
device is unsafe. So much depends on context. chase one of these products, you are depend-
A PC that is not connected to the Internet is ent on the manufacturer for continued support.
reasonably safe for years. When it comes time to experiment with smart
But the Internet is a dynamic environment, home devices, start small and remain flexible.
and every connected device is continuously
subject to attacks. Devices that no longer re- Q. Is it time to consider adding a tablet com-
ceive security updates are a big target. Mi- puter to my life?
crosoft will no longer update Windows 7 after A. Based on sales, there really is no tablet
January 2020, which makes it a dead version computer market. There is only an iPad market.
walking. Apple accounts for more than two-thirds of the
Even after Microsoft pinky-swore they would tablets sold worldwide.
not do so, customer pressure led them to deliv- This spring marks the 10-year anniversary of
er one more "final" update past the cutoff date. the iPad. Since its intro-duction, the original
Because there are still millions of people using iPad has blossomed into an impressive lineup
Windows 7 it will not disappear soon. There of consumer and pro devices that rival laptops. I
may be more updates, but the writing is on the believe that most people would be better served
wall. My advice on Windows 7's retirement: the by an iPad than a personal computer. The base
less valuable the data, the longer it is safe to model iPad is more powerful than most person-
keep using an out-of-date operating system. al computers were a decade ago. If you are
However, if your computer has data worth pro- new to iPad, I suggest starting with an entry lev-
tecting, that data is worth the expense of updat- el model. They are very capable devices and
ing your system. can often be found on sale for about $250. The
most valuable "extra" is more built-in mem-ory.
Q. I want to control my home light-ing with an If possible, choose the 64GB model.
Amazon Echo, what is the best way to do that? Although the built-in software is extensive, the
A. I recommend Belkin Wemo Mini Smart large App Store delivers lots of additional capa-
Plugs. They are about $20 each and are easily bility. If you are a Kindle user, an app will tum
replaced. When it comes to smart home devic- your iPad into a Kindle. Apps can deliver all the
es, flexibility is the key. While it might be tempt- streaming video you can handle, everything
ing to have an electrician install smart outlets, from Netflix to Disney+ to Prime Video. Add the
you should weigh the convenience versus the right case and it becomes a small laptop. Add a
expense. pencil and it becomes a sketchpad.
Remember VHS vs Beta? Tech history is lit- No other tablet or personal computer packs as
tered with competing "stan-dards" that disap- much capability as the iPad. When you start
peared only a few years later. At present, smart thinking about replacing any personal compu-
home devices are like VHS and Beta - different ting device, I suggest that you consider iPad
brands often cannot communicate with one an- first.
other. As a result, I expect many of these devic- A tech enthusiast his entire life, Bob is cur-
es will not be supported for the long term. rently developing an educational software pro-
The recent outcry at Sanos is a good exam- ject. When not writing, he is in the kitchen cook-
April 2020 7
