Re: This won't be popular...
It's really sad and pathetic to see a human debase themselves like this. Particularly when it's done for a corporation. Even moreso a corporation like Microsoft.
This post basically amounts to "you are only a small creature. Microsoft doesn't care about you. You'll just have to accept their treadmill of forced obsolescence and having zero say in what they do to you. I didn't like it either at first, but you get used to it. You should just bend over and try to learn to enjoy it".
This attitude saddens me. I find it genuinely upsetting that a human being would have such little dignity and self-respect that they would accept this "reality". My personal position is that I would resort to violence before I ceded that kind of self-determination to a company that has demonstrated that it doesn't have my best interests at heart.
So they need to focus on NEW and THE FUTURE, not keeping past users happy.
See? They don't have your best interests at heart. There is no reason why you should upgrade that computer that works perfectly adequately for you, except that Microsoft needs you to so they can post a profit this quarter.
why does everyone believe that Microsoft should /needs to accommodate their legacy hardware based upon the legacy user's ideas?
I think it's probably because there's an innate sense of self-worth and self-respect in most humans. People realise intuitively that planned obsolescence is evil and want no part of it. Or maybe they just don't like being forced to shell out money to replace something that isn't broken and does what they need perfectly adequately. But I'm an idealist, I tend to go for the "self-worth" and "inherent good in people" explanation.
PSA: There are alternatives, people. There are even a few different alternatives. The most popular alternative is called Linux. And once you get over the initial learning curve (yes, there will be a learning curve, I'm not going to lie. It's hard to say whether you'll find it difficult or not, everyone is different. But it's not a huge and immediate learning curve, you can just click on familiar icons and use the web like you're used to. Some of the most popular software like chrome and firefox and VLC is the same on Linux. I believe that the vast majority of humans are smart enough to use it, if they try. There's a huge community who will be happy to do what they can to help you if you ask nicely and aren't rude), it's a much better OS. For one thing it's super-configurable and puts the user in absolute control, the way it should be - when Snake talks about how he wishes there were 2 intefaces choosable from the get-go, with linux there are probably hundreds of interface options. Maybe thousands. Of course many of those are obscure and a lot of them are really bizarre and/or terrible as far as most people are concerned. But if you want a touch interface or an interface that is purely keyboard-driven and doesn't use the mouse or one that looks as close as possible to windows 95 or XP or vista or your old Amiga, we've got you covered. In reality there are 3 or 4 "normal" interfaces (called "desktop environments") that are the most popular, most people use one of those. If you want my recommendation, I like the xfce interface, the default interface for xubuntu. It's a familiar, slick, powerful interface that runs well on older hardware.
Another thing is that Linux is totally free, there's no risk to trying it except your time. You can try it out without messing up your computer - if you don't like it just pop out the USB stick and reboot back into windows, no harm done.
It's even used by some professional content creators - I was just talking to a couple of photographers who swear by it :)
It runs quite well on older hardware. There are versions specifically designed for slower machines (a bonus of these is that they run really fast on high-end machines) You can even run it on really old and/or weird hardware if you're a nerd and into that kind of thing
they know that most current Windows users will stay Windows users
You could make this statement wrong. Take back control. Regain your dignity. At zero cost (ok, a little time learning some new things).
To be clear, I'm not actually suggesting that you try it. You're free to choose to try it or not. I'm not saying that you must try it, or insisting that you must like it if you do try it. I'm especially not calling you stupid (or anything else) if you don't try it or decide you don't like it for whatever reason. I believe in freedom. This includes the freedom to ignore this information and to willingly jump on that obsolescence treadmill if you think that's the best option for you. Only you can decide what's right fro you. Not me, and not Microsoft. All I'm doing here is making sure that everybody knows there are options that don't involve debasing yourself to the corporate machine. Snake's post seems to resign itself to a lack of alternatives and a ceding of one's dignity. There are alternatives. Your dignity can remain intact. If you choose to try.