> It is categorically NOT Microsoft's fault that software vendors are bought or go out of business. It's on the software customer to ensure that they don't get stuck with vendor lock-in.
It is Microsoft's fault that the programs only run on Windows XP. If they had used standard open APIs it would have been much easier to port the applications to other platforms to begin with, and more of the original developers would have done so before going out of business.
If you want to argue that customers should not buy Windows-specific software you'll get no argument from me, but that is certainly not Microsoft's position.
> Reverse the situation: A bunch of critical systems which run Linux 2.4 are being compromised by cyber criminals via a kernel exploit. You're going to argue that it's Linus' fault for providing such a great kernel and not supporting it forever?
Linus absolved himself by providing source code. If you really want to keep using Linux 2.4 and patch it yourself, you can, and some companies actually do.
> You cannot take a MacOS binary and run it on Linux.
https://www.darlinghq.org/
And that project is in a weak state not for difficulty but for lack of demand, because so many programs that run on one OS already run natively on both since it's so much easier to port between them than between Windows and anything else.
> You could argue that with Linux, the only thing preventing it from running Win32 or MachO binaries is that those operating systems are closed source, but this is the world we live in. If you want a "universal" binary, write it in something like Java.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Java_Virtual_Machine
> Yes, and I feel that I addressed this when I said "because banks are too spendthrift to rewrite their software"
> It's a business decision.
That's the point. How is it not also a business decision with Windows XP, which Microsoft has forced everyone to make in a way that many would otherwise not?