I think the lines between hardware being safe and software becoming outdated are becoming (unfortunately) somewhat blurred nowadays as most of the former is increasingly reliant on cloud-based software.

I bought a sleep monitor a few years back that relied on the cloud to work (although this was never clear from their sales patter). The hardware stopped working the minute they vanished. This is going to become an increasing problem - no longer will hardware or software continue working without the modern infrastructure it was designed to depend upon.

When your heating stops because it can no longer contact the supplier of your thermostat in the middle of the winter is when this will hit home as a bad idea.

Prolific music listener / Hi-Fi addict!