> In addition, even in the case the applications stop getting developed, they will keep working since their dependencies would not break and other developers ca

> In addition, even in the case the applications stop getting developed, they will keep working since their dependencies would not break and other developers can pick them up if needed, even years later. In theory, yes. In practice due to Hyrum's law you'll have to reproduce bugged behavior because an application exploited a bug in your code. See for example SimCity Windows 95 compatibility story. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/windows-95-went-the-extra-mile-to-ensure-compatibility-of-simcity-other-games/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/windows-95-went-the-... Now Microsoft could afford to buy and test a wide combination of hardware and applications to ensure future compatiblity.