Except that they provided a replacement and a migration path.
And you could keep on using VB6. I wouldn't be surprised if there still aren't thousands of business critical apps that still aren't using it.
Web Services are different in that when they're no longer supported, you can't use them.
Don't be surprised. I have seen a billion-dollar Brazilian megacorp using it for its core software, and several smaller (but still multimillion-dollar sized) companies relying on it as well (we have hundreds of VB6 apps at the insurance company I work for).
That was not a replacement but a completely different product with superficial simalarities and the same name.
The path was not a migration path but a runaway path.
you are right, I should have rephrased when Microsoft did this. I remember those Slashdot threads well.