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Intel iflash6/9/2023 While FTP applications like CyberDuck will likely exist for decades from now, the disconnect from the web browser will make these servers a lot harder to use. FTP is a legacy service that can’t be secured in much the same way that its successor, SFTP, can. The reasons for doing so, often cited for similar removals of legacy features, come down to security. And Firefox makers Mozilla have made rumblings about doing the same thing. Chrome plans to remove support for FTP sites by version 82, which is currently in the development cycle and will hit sometime next year. Many of those FTP servers are still around today, but the news cycle offers a separate, equally disappointing piece of information for those looking for vintage drivers: Major web browsers are planning to sunset support for the FTP protocol. By the late 80s, digital distribution options appeared-for example, bulletin boards such as Software Creations, which helped distribute updated versions of Doom.īy the mid-90s, companies started to create FTP repositories to distribute software, which had the effect of changing the nature of updates: When the internet made distribution easier and both innovation and security risks grew more advanced, technology companies updated their apps far more often. “That goes, you know, back to phone companies having to do this to keep equipment running,” Scott explained in a phone interview.ĭriver repositories largely intended for consumers, like Intel’s, reflect an evolution in the way that companies would distribute updates to software packages, something originally done through the mail. ![]() Jason Scott, the Internet Archive’s lead software curator, says that Intel's decision to no longer provide old drivers on its website reflects a tendency by hardware and software developers to ignore their legacies when possible-particularly in the case of consumer software, rather than in the enterprise, where companies’ willingness to pay for updates ensures that needed updates won’t simply sit on the shelf. This assessment takes into account multiple considerations, including technical and practical limitations, and customer feedback." Intel assesses the support needs and capabilities of our products on an ongoing basis. ![]() “These notifications are aligned with industry standards. "To provide customers with transparency on product support, Intel communicates guidance on specific products and software that are reaching end of support and end of life,” the company said in a statement. In a comment to Motherboard, Intel characterized the approach to and timing of the removals as reflecting industry norms. After all, if something goes wrong, Intel can be sure it’s not liable if a 15-year-old BIOS update borks a system. And as Bleeping Computer has noted, it appears to be part of a broader trend to prevent downloads for unsupported hardware on the Intel website-things that have long lived past their current lives. While it reflects the fact that Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), a later generation of firmware technology used in PCs and Macs, is expected to ultimately replace BIOS entirely, it also leaves lots of users with old gadgets out in a lurch. Recently, the chipmaker took BIOS drivers, a boot-level firmware technology used for hardware initialization in earlier generations of PCs, for a number of its unsupported motherboards off its website, citing the fact that the programs have reached an “End of Life” status. But this, increasingly, feels like it may be a way of life for people trying to keep old hardware alive-despite the fact that all the drivers generally have to do is simply sit on the internet, available when they’re necessary.Īpparently, that isn’t easy enough for Intel.
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