I don't remember their exact names, but Vista had some apps that were gone in Windows 7, like the Sidebar (a UX paradigm that Apple continues to make arguably better use of in OS X) and some collaboration thing plus others.
I admit that "after just one release" was a bitter exaggeration, but Silverlight, CardSpace, WPF, PhotoDraw and other tech has been unceremoniously dropped or forgotten by MS after a relatively short time.
Apple is guilty of discontinuing apps too, but at least their OS features and platforms are more resilient. For example the Dashboard is still available even though the Notification Center is supposed to supersede it.
Those are applications. Applications get dropped all the time and usually for good reason IMO
WPF and Silverlight are totally still around. Silverlight is languishing for sure, but for good reason (and largely the same reasons as flash).
What I meant by backwards compatibility was that Microsoft rarely breaks or removes API's, so from a developers perspective they aren't any worse than Apple.
> What I meant by backwards compatibility was that Microsoft rarely breaks or removes API's, so from a developers perspective they aren't any worse than Apple.
It's been ages but I remember being annoyed when they sort of nerfed DirectInput into XInput [1]. The earlier API had way more features for advanced force-feedback and some other features. Why cripple things like that at all?
I think the Vista Sidebar vs. OS X Dashboard is a good example; Apple has kept it around for people who might still prefer it, and the widgets made for it still work, whereas any work that developers had put into making Sidebar (and Sideshow [2]) widgets has been negated by Microsoft. I actually liked the Sidebar.
In each of those cases, Microsoft seems to have crippled or took out features and APIs mostly to force something else on us; XBOX and the Windows 8 Start Screen, respectively.
I admit that "after just one release" was a bitter exaggeration, but Silverlight, CardSpace, WPF, PhotoDraw and other tech has been unceremoniously dropped or forgotten by MS after a relatively short time.
Apple is guilty of discontinuing apps too, but at least their OS features and platforms are more resilient. For example the Dashboard is still available even though the Notification Center is supposed to supersede it.