Computer systems and software obsolescence

Obsolescence is an inescapable phenomenon that affects all products, from the simplest to the most complex. On the one hand, it is intimately linked to innovation and technological progress, which progressively lead to products becoming technically outdated after a certain time. On the other hand, products become obsolete as they are no longer adapted to new uses. So, as needs evolve, as certain resources dwindle and as new technological inventions become available, products (but also services, knowledge, etc.) all fall victim, at one time or another, to a form of obsolescence.

Obsolescence therefore naturally affects IT systems, which play a crucial role in areas such as health, energy, transport and so on. The building blocks of these systems are hardware (based on electrical and electronic components) and software; they are interdependent and all subject to obsolescence, which can sometimes lead to critical situations. Obsolescence will affect a microprocessor, for example, which will become obsolete (between 6 months and 2 years in some cases) as new, more powerful microprocessors come onto the market, or as new, more computationally-intensive applications can no longer run correctly on this hardware. A tablet becomes progressively unusable (i.e. outdated or obsolete) if you can't update the applications, which at some point will no longer be compatible with the operating system. In the latter case, we're not dealing with the obsolescence of an electronic component, but with the obsolescence of a software component, the operating system.

We can see that, although obsolescence is very often associated with electronic technology, it also widely affects computer systems, including software. It is therefore becoming essential to realize that software, too, can suffer the effects of obsolescence, and that this can have major consequences.

After a brief review of the obsolescence of technical systems, this article looks at the obsolescence of IT systems in the broadest sense. It goes on to show that software systems are affected by obsolescence, and studies how this phenomenon affects them, so that we can manage and anticipate the onset of the phenomenon, or reduce its effects.