this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Backwards compatibility is a double-edged sword. It's cool that you can run an apk from 10 years ago but there should be a point where you say that's enough and drop support from them. Looking at Windows.
I think the idea that dropping compatibility helps forward improvement is oversold. To quote "Things you should never do" https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ . There's no guarantee that the new version will be any better than the old version, because the people who actually learned things from the old version have moved on, conversely, the old version has all the cruft, which are otherwise known as "fixes" and which guarantee that it works reliably in all kinds of environments, something your new fancy version won't have until it too becomes old.
We have tons of problems today due to overextenring backwards compatibility to a point in which it just crates more tech debt than the benefits it brings. Windows and X11 are great examples, at least Windows is still being maintained.
I learned the other day that thats the reason you cannot make a folder named CON on windows. Dates back to pre DOS era.