win95/98/ME and printers. An ethics issue comparable to DRM servers or not?

[Oren Beck]

There seems to me an ethics issue developing . One possibly directed
at establishing the "pattern of crime" RE: EOL software/hardware
support.

I can see a company ethically having legit EOL policy protecting them
from liability. Example in my past was devices having consumable
safety parts with "expiry risk" factors.  If a seal fails causing
ammonia leakage it's potentially deadly.
That was on Micrographics gear arguably a "Printing" support device.
SO the software running on a pc/xt simply disabled the hardware-
absent codes from the company. Precedent thus set for EOL
"disablement" in safety interlock software.
That shows what a valid EOL disablement scenario is and was all about.

The effective disablement of printers attached to unsupported software
is NOT the comparable situation at all.
Yes, allegedly if you kept your own software archives, it would be a
non issue. The looming crash comes with XP style "activation" of
nonfree software and DRM locked information. Here the will they ? Vs
what "Already has" discussion begins.

I see the golden window for Free and Open Source software to declare
an ethical high road.