At least other manufacturers such as Toyota don't end support.
Yes you can buy a Toyota 20 years after buying another car. Try that with Windows! First of all, Software vendors and Microsoft make it so that software will not run on previous editions of Windows forcing you to eventually upgrade. They also no longer support older versions of Windows such as XP. Half the time, Microsoft releases a buggy version of Windows such as Window 98 (First Edition), Windows ME, and Windows Vista. I had to upgrade a Vista machine to Windows 7 because I couldn't get Vista to work and didn't appreciate having to upgrade just for a stable operating system that runs as fast as XP. What Microsoft is doing would be like GM or Toyota making it so that they no longer make parts for cars older than 5 years so if you need new breaks on a car 5 years old or longer, you will either have to find brakes in the junkyard or buy a new car. In addition, if they built a lemon they would try to drop support for it quicker forcing you to buy a new car sooner than 5 years just to have a reliable car that runs. Every new release of Windows usually means the current computer and hardware components may have to be replaced even though they work fine but are not compatible with the new windows release. This includes Software and Hardware that may work fine but can't be used in the new version. For the hardware and software that does work, you usually have to download firmware upgrades or software upgrades and half the time it seems the new version of Windows runs worse that the previous edition and in some cases you are forced to upgrade to a new version just because your current installation is too unstable because Microsoft screwed up and their patches don't fix the problems.
