>5. APIs are forever Microsoft does a lot of work in that direction too, there are workarounds and fallbacks to older API behavior everywhere around the place.

>5. APIs are forever Microsoft does a lot of work in that direction too, there are workarounds and fallbacks to older API behavior everywhere around the place. I think this is also compatible with Linus' mantra; "Don't break userspace". (Obviously there is a limit, Linus did elaborate on those limits recently). I really don't like it when APIs stop working. There are plenty of ways to get people off the old API without disrupting them or annoying anyone, as you mention, an option is to simply stop advertising the old version and maybe make it more expensive (or less accessible) to new customers. Having a stable API that I can bet a product for 10 years (or more) on is something that developers (and users) like and should be a huge plus when deciding between product offerings from companies.