To add to what I said earlier. Joseph actually had a project, search for project longhorn, to support more modern processor and OS features. He had a build of NVDA that supported SSE2 in newer processors, but withdrew the proposal because the aformentioned NVDA build wouldn't work on pre-2004 AMD processors that didn't have SSE2 support.

On 12/15/2021 5:22 PM, enes sarıbaş via groups.io wrote:

Brian though I think with NVDA the  migration to python 3.9 etc was canceled or pushed forward because it would break NVDA's support with Windows 7.  When features that would benefit newer hardware/operating systems don't get implemented in an efort to preserve compatibility with obsolete software, I think that is a serious problem.

On 12/15/2021 5:15 PM, Brian Vogel wrote:

On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 05:49 PM, enes sarıbaş wrote:

This was my point Brian. 

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And one I was agreeing with and trying to expand on.

But, and this is important, I don't mind if backward compatibility can be maintained with zero effort, or even very minimal effort, at least for some period of time.  It's only when significant resources are being dedicated to that when that maintenance is for truly ancient (in computer terms) software.

You've heard me say, many times:  Software and hardware both have finite service life.  It is actually stupid for any significant effort to be made in order to maintain backward compatibility with out-of-support software, be it an operating system version, Office version, or anything else.

If you simply can't update, then you are going to have to use the last compatible version of whatever the software may be on whatever system(s) may be involved.  It is unreasonable to expect software houses to maintain backward compatibility perpetually.  It's just not gonna happen, and shouldn't.  We don't have this for any other aspect of life in terms of appliances, phones, automobiles, and the list goes on and on.  And those who wish to extend use beyond official support periods for any of those things justifably have the personal responsibility for doing what's necessary to do so.

One of my favorite quotations, that can be applied in many situations where self-interest is placed above that of others (and the way computing that has been since it started):

It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.

         ~ John Andrew Holmes
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Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H1, Build 19043  

Science has become just another voice in the room; it has lost its platform.  Now, you simply declare your own truth.

       ~ Dr. Paul A. Offit, in New York Times article, How Anti-Vaccine Sentiment Took Hold in the United States, September 23, 2019