> Tons of other languages have version requirements as part of their end user experience.
That does not dispute the original claim though. It's still a problem for Python even when other languages have the same problem.
> or Perl language versions being breaking
Perl 5.0 code written in 1999 will still happily run in 2023. In part due to the fact that breaking changes are *opt-in* within a Perl script.
Reference: https://www.perl.com/article/announcing-perl-7/
"""Perl 7.0 is going to be v5.32 but with different, saner, more modern defaults. [..] Perl 5 still has Perl 5’s extreme backward compatibility behavior, but Perl 7 gets modern practice with minimal historical baggage. """
Honestly, Perl is an example of extreme backwards compatibility that has the user experience at the forefront of their design decisions.