One thing I would keep in mind is that the Win64 API does change from release-to-release and that my guess is that if very few people using a software package are still using a version of Windows, application software developers may stop intentionally avoiding newer API calls and features, and will just have their new release require a newer version of Windows.
That may be okay for some use cases, like if you just want to keep an existing system working with existing software. But I think that it’s worth keeping in mind that you may increasingly not be able to use:
New software packages.
Newer releases of existing packages.
Software packages that make use of cloud-based services that drop support.
New hardware that requires software support.
They’re probably going to take into account the percentage of people using the thing in setting their compatibility targets for developers and their testing.
IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 - until 2032 - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2021
One thing I would keep in mind is that the Win64 API does change from release-to-release and that my guess is that if very few people using a software package are still using a version of Windows, application software developers may stop intentionally avoiding newer API calls and features, and will just have their new release require a newer version of Windows.
That may be okay for some use cases, like if you just want to keep an existing system working with existing software. But I think that it’s worth keeping in mind that you may increasingly not be able to use:
New software packages.
Newer releases of existing packages.
Software packages that make use of cloud-based services that drop support.
New hardware that requires software support.
They’re probably going to take into account the percentage of people using the thing in setting their compatibility targets for developers and their testing.