> When the authorities issue new fire safety regulations for buildings, then that is breaking compatibility to the older building standard. Do the old building

> When the authorities issue new fire safety regulations for buildings, then that is breaking compatibility to the older building standard. Do the old buildings automagically get updated to the new standard everyone is using? Does the city shut down every business in a building that doesn't match standard (= break software) until that building is retrofitted (which is time-consuming and costly)? That's what breaking backwards compatability does, it stops people from doing their thing until someone fixes it (sometimes it's on them, sometimes it's on you). And not everyone can afford a 'drop everything now to fix the issues brought up by the kernel release'. In any case, a good way to get people to not use your product is to keep breaking it. > Sometimes even old buildings need to be retrofitted, and that is then what is done. Is it? There was a very famous fire in London just a couple of weeks ago, of a building which wasn't up to standard, yet filled with people. Dozens of people died.