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Not only that, but most of Microsoft's discontinued products were replaced by arguably better alternative products.

Windows 95 -> 98 -> XP -> ...

Microsoft Works -> Office

COBOL -> ... -> Visual Studio

Unlike Google, where, for example, Reader is gone and they don't have any alternatives.



Microsoft Windows is not on the list because it had direct descendent upgrades. 95 to 98 to XP etc provided a smooth upgrade experience for the end-user.

Works and Office were completely different product lines, and Works was free for the vast majority of its users, while Office was obviously not. It's not apples to apples.

COBOL was not in Visual Studio for ~20 years. Someone in 1996 couldn't have just fired up Visual Studio for Cobol after it was deprecated back then.


Hey Google+ was a great replacement for Reader. And social media hermeticism was a great replacement for Google+.




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