Laugh - well my husband 47 ... not exactly 70 .. but he's made the change... he's gone through a bunch of languages.. mostly on his own - having good jobs. You make a great point that if someone can't adapt they don't belong in the field.
I'm not a programmer - but I live with two - my husband and son.. Maybe it's just that they LOVE what they do - but to them they love the challenge of learning something new.
"Maybe it's just that they LOVE what they do"
I would submit that many of these VB6 signatories were quite accomplished programmers at one time too (have to be to be an MVP I assume) and undoubtedly went through many upgrade cycles themselves. Some of them probably have to keep legacy systems going as well as running businesses. The whole world doesn't necessarily need or revolve around all of MS's ambitious innovations as valuable and essential as those are going forward. If this obsolescence schedule were applied to many other areas of our lives...well I've gone on too long. We know what happens and usually no one cares. Only the winners write the histories.