I empathize with the sentiment, but I think Microsoft isn't that conservative. Since XP, they have continuously dropped hundreds of features and components with

I empathize with the sentiment, but I think Microsoft isn't that conservative. Since XP, they have continuously dropped hundreds of features and components with varying significance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_Vista https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Wi... That said, there isn't a one to one correlation between the gains of dropping a legacy component and the increased capability to innovate either. Windows is highly modular, and maintaining legacy compatibility rarely is a blocker for a line of innovation, nor is a high budget workload. I wonder though, what kind of innovation do you want to see but think that it's held back by legacy components?