Computer obsolescence is a strong driver of the waste of computers and other electronic goods. Turnover in companies, hospitals, government institutions, and other large organizations to bring in new computers should be done to maintain the integrity of IT resources, but not so often as to generate excess waste. Computer turnovers are the source of unnecessary wastes:

• waste of capital and time in purchasing and implementing new hardware (when computer turnover is too frequent)

• waste of natural resources (with the consumption of natural resources and energy in manufacturing new machines)

• toxic waste and disposal costs (from the disposal of computers and components made with toxic materials in landfills or incinerators).

To extend the life span of a computer, consider what can go wrong, how to prevent and recover from those problems, and how to change the way you use your computer. Understanding potential problems of software, hardware, and operating systems and the solutions available will allow you to extend the useful life of hardware, and subsequently save money and divert dangerous waste from landfills or incinerators.

At ifPeople, we employ Free and Open Source Software applications that are many times more efficient and need less hardware resources than proprietary equivalents. This includes the Operating System (Linux or FreeBSD), as well as the applications (word processing, web browser, content management systems). These work on the desktop, and are also core to our Internet Technology solutions (such as Web sites and project management software) running on our servers. By utilizing less demanding softwares that are still powerful, we can deploy hardware for longer lifetimes in the company's service. Another advantage of Free/Open Source Software is a much lower vulnerability to viruses than users of the Windows OS, helping to avoid unwanted downtime.