Backwards compatibility takes us … backwards
Sadly, as soon as you retain assist for previous, susceptible variations of your software program, folks will proceed to make use of previous, susceptible variations of your software program.
Distributors shrugged their shoulders, and pundits blamed software program customers for selecting to make use of a working-but-vulnerable model as a substitute of a broken-but-patched model (as if that was an actual selection). And as extra customers continued to make use of the susceptible options, distributors needed to proceed to assist the susceptible variations, which enabled extra customers to depend on the susceptible options, which … you get the image.
Software program has largely stopped being single objective, the place a vendor can perceive precisely how their clients will use it. As a substitute, it’s develop into common objective, with most software program doing quite simple issues effectively, however being utilized in extremely unpredictable methods. And now not does an IT workforce even set up most software program, as a result of most organizations are now not “metal-native” — proudly owning their very own laptop programs — however are as a substitute cloud-native, SaaS-native, and AI-native.
