On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 10:40:42 +0100, John Cartmell
wrote:

I know what my system will and will not do. If I wanted to play the latest
games I'd buy a games machine. What is *not* happening here - but does happen
with Windows machines - is the pernicious step of new applications (or
essential updates) being made available only for the new OS even where they
don't need the 'power' of the new OS. That's the ratchet that forces users to
buy new machines - and where they then find that old software doesn't work and
has to be re-purchased.

Bear in mind that it becomes increasingly more difficult (besides the
decreasing financial rewards) to maintain old software versions and
compatability.
At what point does a software vendor stop supporting W98 and ME,
remember that to be able to support these OSs you need one or more
boxes, maybe more with different configurations. It may not be easy
now to get boxes with the original W2000 installation.
If you are creating a device driver, firewall or other software with a
very close relation to the OS then the exact configuration can be very
important.

I create and sell Visio addons and stencils. I can still create
stencils for Visio 5 but having had only a handful of sales for Visio
5 so far this year it's no longer worth my while creating V5 versions
for new stencils. Occasionaly I get a request for a Visio 4 version.
Regretfully, I have to reply that I can't produce V4 versions and it's
not worth doing so: I would need to buy (secondhand) an appropriate
version of Visio, a new box on which to install it, physical space for
it etc, etc.


--
Regards, Paul Herber, Sandrila Ltd. http://www.pherber.com/
Electronics for Visio http://www.electronics.sandrila.co.uk/