Which comment basically shows that you are totally ignorant on the subject. One example....Agilent Gas Chromatographs are used in literally thousands of labs. Agilent "death-marks" their equipment just like M'soft currently does, but far sooner that the real service life of the GC Hardware, and they WILL NOT upgrade their software. Their reply is "tuff titty"....just buy a new chromatograph.
"Another is VMs, Windows 7 Ultimate comes with XP VM free in the OS just turn it on no new licenses needed, plus there’s tons of other ways to run VMs of old OSes (really if you’ve got the disk and a license you can just go), if this specialty software won’t work in VM then again that company needs to act like professionals the VM revolution is older than Vista.
And my recommendation is simply an expansion of this out to other Windows versions. I don't see how what I am suggesting is all that different from the "Window 7/XPVM" route already taken by M'Soft.
"The customers already have a way forward. They’ve known this day is coming for the better part of a decade. George Bush was in the White House XP’s replacement was announced and the first EOL schedule came with it, a schedule that’s been pushed back. Anybody finding themselves between a rock and hardplace now PUT themselves there with years of not bothering to plan for their own future.
The problem is that, despite your protestations, the customers do NOT have a way forward, or at least not without huge hassle. This is something M'soft has already done, just broadened out. It offers a standardized, "one stop shop" solution to a widespread problem.
I work in the software industry. If they won’t update their software to work on the new OSes then they’re doomed. Now they might not update old versions for it, but they’re going to have to make SOME version do it. Which, according to this link: https://www.chem.agilent.com/Library/usermanuals/Public/G2170-90235_Upgrade-to-B0403_ENG.pdf , they have done. Now if you don’t want to upgrade that’s on you. But software that works on the new OSes exist. So now the choice is yours, stay on the old software and the old OS or upgrade both.
It’s already expanded if you’re willing to do the effort. With various VM tools you can install ANY OS on top of ANY OTHER OS. There’s no reason for MS to do it, resurrecting 20 year old OSes has no margin.
They DO have a way forward. You just think it’s too much work. Which is a valid decision, but not MS’s problem. You’ve got 3 options:
hoard license and equipment to stay on XP machines with XP forever
get better equipment that can run VMs of XP forever
buy new machines and put new OSes on them
It isn’t a widespread problem. If there was a large group unwilling to follow any of those 3 paths it would be profitable for MS to offer a 4th. There isn’t, so they didn’t.