It’s not about pacemakers at all here for the same exact reason you described: if you’re not able to update firmware, you’re able to update underlying OS as well
The problem here is when you sell LTS solutions for $10M thinking you can pay $1000 for keeping your solution afloat for two decades.
It doesn’t work this way. Operation systems as well as frameworks and runtimes, are constantly changing, because the industry is constantly moving forward. The only way to keep up is to constantly (and regularly) update YOUR software too (and plan the budgets accordingly). It’s your responsibility to fulfil your obligation.
After all, you can still run an up to date Linux (or better NetBSD) on a very old hardware, the problem is that you didn’t update your software regularly to just keep up with changing API/ABI, means didn’t invested too much on a longevity of your product
> Operation systems as well as frameworks and runtimes, are constantly changing
No. They aren't. It's not a natural phenomena out of our control. We decide when to change them. Presently, we make bad decisions. We should learn to make better decisions.
And you are incorrect when you think that pacemaker and similar equipment isn't the problem -- it totally is. Imagine that after ten years the hospital that installed a pacemaker needs to do a checkup or some other maintenance work on it with external equipment. But they were forced to upgrade the external equipment because there weren't any with LTS long enough to allow them to use a certified and vetted copy of. And now they have no way to connect to the older equipment they distributed to patients, equipment they have no means of upgrading, but also no means of dealing with, because they had to upgrade their own system.
The problem here is when you sell LTS solutions for $10M thinking you can pay $1000 for keeping your solution afloat for two decades.
It doesn’t work this way. Operation systems as well as frameworks and runtimes, are constantly changing, because the industry is constantly moving forward. The only way to keep up is to constantly (and regularly) update YOUR software too (and plan the budgets accordingly). It’s your responsibility to fulfil your obligation.
After all, you can still run an up to date Linux (or better NetBSD) on a very old hardware, the problem is that you didn’t update your software regularly to just keep up with changing API/ABI, means didn’t invested too much on a longevity of your product