Backwards compatibility takes us … backwards
Sadly, as soon as you retain assist for outdated, weak variations of your software program, individuals will proceed to make use of outdated, weak variations of your software program.
Distributors shrugged their shoulders, and pundits blamed software program customers for selecting to make use of a working-but-vulnerable model as an alternative of a broken-but-patched model (as if that was an actual alternative). And as extra customers continued to make use of the weak options, distributors needed to proceed to assist the weak variations, which enabled extra customers to depend on the weak options, which … you get the image.
Software program has principally stopped being single objective, the place a vendor can perceive precisely how their clients will use it. As an alternative, it’s change into normal objective, with most software program doing quite simple issues effectively, however being utilized in extremely unpredictable methods. And now not does an IT workforce even set up most software program, as a result of most organizations are now not “metal-native” — proudly owning their very own laptop methods — however are as an alternative cloud-native, SaaS-native, and AI-native.