FEEDBACK ON LONG TERM USE OF READYNAS

ReadyDLNA uses the open source minidlna project which is developed by a senior NetGear ReadyNAS developer who's one of the longest serving members of the ReadyNAS team (I wouldn't be surprised if he still has some Sparc units of his own at his home). See http://minidlna.sourceforge.net/ Like all open source software the minidlna used by the ReadyNAS is included in the GPL (http://www.readynas.com/gpl). This will definitely not be removed as a feature. There's recently been a 1.0.25 update posted here: ReadyDLNA Update Add-ons which despite not being mentioned in the Release Notes is also included in 4.1.10 beta: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=59222

Apart from ReadyNAS Photos (I), the only software on the v1 reliant on a 3rd party service and 3rd party servers would be ReadyNAS Vault. Considering ReadyNAS Vault is a service the user pays for and is available on the newer ReadyNAS platforms I'd be quite surprised if it was discontinued anytime soon.

The NetGear ReadyNAS team has a good history of continuing to provide firmware updates even after products are discontinued. They have discontinued the entire Sparc ReadyNAS line (e.g Duo/NV+ v1) but continue to provide firmware updates for it.