I actually wonder if they can't just openly commit to something like a five-year plan for support, along the lines of commitments to security updates to android

I actually wonder if they can't just openly commit to something like a five-year plan for support, along the lines of commitments to security updates to android. Just a resolve that they will not terminate their product in its first five years. I think a good way to address the crisis of credibility Google has with their commitment to their own products is to just make articulated timelines of support something considered as fundamental as the code base itself. It could admittedly be perceived of as a negative, because a "cliff" could approach. But the flip side is that we are where we are in the absence of credible commitments, and I think the present status quo is worse.