I was there for most of that, but loosing 32-bit feels different to me. For the physical peripherals, I could still use them on old hardware. Forcing me to remain on an old OS is far more severe and I too (and everyone in my extended family) ran into this. In particular, my relatives depend on the old Microsoft office packages they bought eons ago. "Fixing" the problem Apple gifted us means buying and learning new software (and AFAICT, you can't even buy Office anymore, only rent it).

This is extremely disappointing and I'm not even sure what to do next time their hardware dies (which has happened multiple times).

It’s not so different from 10.7 dropping Rosetta, which led to a similar scenario where upgrading your OS meant a bunch of old PPC apps could no longer run.

Again I’m not defending Apple, just pointing out that all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again with Apple.

If you value compatibility with old binaries highly, Windows is a much better platform for that than macOS.

There was a reason for that - a benefit for users - there was a platform change, whose speed increases made an actual legit argument for the platform change.

There is no benefit to removal of 32-bit apps. There is no purpose, from the user's end, other than fucking them over, that I can see.

There's not even any reason given.

Rumours of an ARM platform change do not an ARM platform change make. Catalina is worthless and detrimental to me as an upgrade.

You can buy permanent licenses of Office 2019, it’s $250.

Do you still have to register an account with Microsoft?

IOW, as updates can go through the MacStore, can you use the permanent License of Office 2019 on the Mac without ever connecting to Microsoft?

Dude, MS has had activation for their products for like a decade and a half if not more.

I do not think that this works.

You can buy Office just fine. They push 365, but that's just a licensing model, you can buy regular licenses just as easily.

Ok, thanks, but it doesn't change that it's an unwanted expense and, the worst part, require new training.

Of course I already just learned that most of my Steam library would also turn into a pumpkin if I upgraded. Seems like I'm stuck on Mojave forever.

I'm not sure what this "new training" is, I've never had any training with Office and have been using it in most of its variations since it was first released.

Are you 75+? My parents are. Move an icon an they get confused (I say that without judgement - they have not like grown up with an intuitive for software)

The difference with 32 bit software is that there's nothing forcing them to do it. With something like a port, there are physical limitations to the device, so abandoning older technologies at least gets you something in terms of form factor.

With 32 bit support, these exact same CPUs could easily still run 32 bit software as they have for years. The tradeoff I guess is that it makes the OS a bit easier to support from Apple's point of view. The advantage to the user is not clear.