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Q. Will Microsoft create a totally new OS that isn't constrained by backwards compatibility?

A. Consider why people buy Microsoft platforms. People like the bells and whistles but mainly, use OSs as application platforms. The large number of applications that work on Windows is a selling point, so losing that capability with a version of Windows with no backwards compatibility would be a downside. Instead, Microsoft gathers information anonymously from installations to see components that aren't being used by applications and deprecate those components as new OSs are released, which is how features that aren't widely used can be removed from the OS over time.

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