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It isn't so much the technology dies as it is that it gets forced out of use as it becomes "obsolete" and is no longer supported.  I believe the marketing term is "planned obsolescence".  Is this a problem with GPS devices?

There is a big difference between a GPS and a computer with respect to them becoming obsolete.  A computer has various parts that can be replaced or upgraded as separate components.  There also is a huge variety of software titles available with the newer ones usually having limited functionality on older systems.  And the performance of computers changes drastically over the span of 8 years (although that rate of change is beginning to slow down).

Even if a GPS is no longer supported, unless it breaks it can be quite useful.  I suspect garmin's mapping software still works fine in 10+ old garmin units because the nature of the communications between computer and GPS is just not very complicated.  I suspect Garmin has updates for both my GPS and my GPS software but I never bother to check because everything I have, old as it is, works fine so if it ain't broke, no need to fix it.

In summary, a GPS is nothing like a computer in how quickly it becomes obsolete.