Follow-up on the abondonware issue. You are working on some long running live

This is essentially what governments do to keep their own internal programs running. Have you ever wondered why government agencies often run ancient computers? It's not because they can't buy new stuff, it's because government services are essentially all live services that cannot stop and their continued operation requires ancient software and working around known security holes.

One of my family members, up until retirement a few years ago, had to keep a Windows 98 computer working because the single program he needed to do all of his simulation only worked on Windows 98. The company that made it no longer exists. There are no new versions of that software, nor will there ever be. Even today, the use of that ancient program continues on at the government agency that he worked at.

On the game dev end, we often do a lot to maintain old obsolete systems/software for live services. I have an adage that applies to these kind of situations: "You can pay the principal or you can pay the interest but tech debt will always take its due". Paying the principal means fixing the root problem but generally costs a lot and gets more expensive over time. Paying the interest means working around the problem and dealing with all the trouble of maintaining the old work. The longer the problem runs, the more expensive either fix becomes.

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