I have written before that we really only rent software for a time, but do you know the same is true for hardware?

For software, the argument is thus. We may pay for a new version of Windows or Apple's Mac operating system, thinking that we own the software. However, we slowly lose the ability to use that software when a new version comes out. This occurs when other pieces of functional software we have bought fail to provide updates so we can use them on the new operating system. The old is confined to obsolescence. We then have to replace all the old software we used.

Microsoft and Apple also work to make the previous versions of their operating systems less attractive, though we may strive to keep them. They stop providing security updates. This is their business model and it has worked to bring in massive revenues and keep their customers unhappy.

Apple plays the game as well as Microsoft. For example, I bought an iPod Touch 18 months ago for my girlfriend. In June 2009, Apple released a new version of its operating system, version 3.0, for the iPod and iPhone. I started getting a reminder to update the software whenever I logged into iTunes.

Clicking on the link, I found Apple wanted me to pay $10 to be able to use new applications. I declined since I was happy with the current status of my iPod. Today, I cannot use many of the apps I currently have on my iPod or download others that look interesting. Sigh...I am going to have to pay that $10. My operating system had become obsolete after six months of buying my iPod.

The same business model seems to be transferred to hardware. This month my girlfriend bought a new laptop loaded with Windows 7. I have a perfectly good HP scanner that works with my desktop, which has XP, and my laptop, which has Vista.

I went to HP's support site to download an update to the software for the scanner so it could run on Windows 7. Unfortunately HP said it would no longer provide updates for the software so it could run on Windows 7. I guess they want me to throw out a perfectly good scanner and buy a new one.

My colleague in IT at work noted that Windows 7 is backwards compatible with Vista and XP, allowing users to switch to a mode that allows them to use their old software. Ah, ah! I remembered. This was a big selling point as touted by Microsoft. However I went on to find out that the version of Windows 7 we had, the family premium version, was not backward compatible. I would have to upgrade to 'higher' versions of Windows 7 to get that function. Cost? About another $200. Isn't that a con?

We as consumers need to extract a more friendly version of this business model from all these companies, or else they will continue extracting cash from our pockets by making us believe we are actually paying for something that will continue to work. I should be expected to pay for a new version when I am willing to pay for additional functions.

Signs of the times: We in the business of reporting news on paper know that the times they are a-changin' as Bob Dylan sang ages ago. The latest Pew Research Centre's Project for Excellence in Journalism survey, found that the Internet is now the third most popular news medium among Americans, following local and national television and ahead of newspapers and radio broadcasts. About 61 percent of Americans go online at least once a day to read the news. The positive sign out of this survey is the fact that people still read the news. About 72 percent of those surveyed said they enjoy discussing the news with others and 69 percent also consider keeping abreast of events as a social or civic obligation.

I don't believe news on paper will disappear. Newspapers and magazines will have to make do with a smaller piece of the pie. We just have to adapt to realise that we must complement the paper version with the Internet. This change trend is signalled by the Pew survey, which found that 91 percent get their news from multiple sources.

People do not only access the Internet through their laptops and desktop computers. About 33 percent of cell phone owners get news through their phones. I would suggest that blogs and Twitter are also in the competition for attention.

Look at this separate survey. Twitter reported in early March that it had surpassed 10 billion posted tweets. Twitter broke the one billion tweet mark in November 2008 and five billion tweets just four months ago.

Many from the older generation dismiss Twitter. I do not. Twitter has a simple offering, confining users to a broadcast messages limit of 140 characters. This limit is not confining. Instead it allows the more than 60 million active users to become creative. It forces news providers to write leads that must be sharp and catchy enough to drive traffic to their sites.

It is also a source of primary news, both for journalists and news consumers. A key moment in this trend occurred in summer 2009 when protesters in Iran used Twitter to organise themselves and get the story out to the world.

They turned naturally to Twitter to escape government monitoring of their mobile phones and e-mail.

The popularity of #Iran during the ensuing weeks indicates the world is interested in international news, especially when followers of a certain topic can vicariously feel part of an ongoing event, mostly accessed through their mobile devices.

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