In some cases there may be replacements, but they would require newer hardware as well (think expensive lab equipment, not just workstations), which brings the

In some cases there may be replacements, but they would require newer hardware as well (think expensive lab equipment, not just workstations), which brings the cost much higher than simply replacing the software. My father's environmental testing lab is currently in this predicament, but they finally got rid of their last Windows 3.11 (and older) machines a couple of years ago so it's not like they aren't trying, it just needs to happen incrementally.