I completely agree to you.
Everyone keeps thinking about backwards compatibilty, but sometimes you just have to go forward. All major programs and filetypes have different versions that are incompatible with each other. For example Microsoft Word: there's .doc and .docx. They also had to decide at some point: "Screw this, we update everyhing." And, although there's no direct compatibilty between the two files, they can be converted into one another.
And, that's what I'm sure about: if we end up with something that's not directly backwards compatible, I'm sure there's someone who will write a converter.
But, I also understand why people fear to break backwards combatibily. It's a circle that difficult to get out: the most popular programs use the old standard, if you break the standard you can't use the old software anymore. But, new software won't be created as quick as it could be, because the standard is quite old.
It's a difficult decision.
Everyone keeps thinking about backwards compatibilty, but sometimes you just have to go forward. All major programs and filetypes have different versions that are incompatible with each other. For example Microsoft Word: there's .doc and .docx. They also had to decide at some point: "Screw this, we update everyhing." And, although there's no direct compatibilty between the two files, they can be converted into one another.
And, that's what I'm sure about: if we end up with something that's not directly backwards compatible, I'm sure there's someone who will write a converter.
But, I also understand why people fear to break backwards combatibily. It's a circle that difficult to get out: the most popular programs use the old standard, if you break the standard you can't use the old software anymore. But, new software won't be created as quick as it could be, because the standard is quite old.
It's a difficult decision.