I've been a professional C, Perl, PHP and Python developer.
I'm an ex-sysadmin from the late 20th century.
These days I do more Javascript and CSS and whatnot, and promote UX and accessibility.
Withdrawing support and forcing upgrades is something proprietary software vendors do all the time.
Yes, it is. It's also not. Some proprietary products get support way past their original end-dates (like Windows XP, for instance).
Open-source software "buyers" should be protected from these tactics.
I disagree. Open source can be supported by anyone. There is usually less money and fewer resources behind it to support legacy systems - and Drupal 7 is the definition of "legacy".
Open source "buyers" have no inherent rights nor should they have any expectations. The developers can leave to go do something else at any time.
I think that supporting D7 for so long is like supporting XP for an extra decade. It's a waste of resources and it's encouraging people to stay on a platform which is really not up to par by today's standards.
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We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
I think it's a step back.
Yes, it is. It's also not. Some proprietary products get support way past their original end-dates (like Windows XP, for instance).
I think that supporting D7 for so long is like supporting XP for an extra decade. It's a waste of resources and it's encouraging people to stay on a platform which is really not up to par by today's standards.