[cwyers]

It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but Android has been around since 2007, and they're up to API level 22 right now. In that same time period, Microsoft has had the following releases of Windows (excluding Mobile/Phone and Server):

Vista, which actually came out in 2006 in the OEM edition Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 10

Windows has had a much slower release cadence than Android. It's a much, much bigger burden on Google to continue to support older Android versions with bugfixes and security patches than it is Windows. Now, you can counter that Google decided on this release cadence, but still, I don't think it's reasonable to expect Google to support Android versions as long as Microsoft does Windows versions, as some here are stumping for.

(That said, every time I read an article about Android these days I get the urge to buy a Windows Phone.)

[microtonal]

(That said, every time I read an article about Android these days I get the urge to buy a Windows Phone.)

I just did that two days ago, the update situation being one of the reasons (the other that I like a reasonable quality dual SIM phone).

For now, it's just an extra phone to play with (Lumia 640, cheap, great build quality/performance for the price). But who knows ;).

[cwyers]

I have a Lumia 635, which is nice "for the price" I agree but not nice enough to switch to full-time. I'm hopeful that the new high-end phones provide a real choice.

[microtonal]

But there is quite a difference between the 635 and the 640: non-HD vs. HD, possibly 512 MB RAM (depending on the version) vs. 1 GB RAM, 5MP vs. 8MP camera.

I agree that new flagships would be nice though. Especially with Continuum.

[ocdtrekkie]

The fact that Google created a huge maintenance burden for themselves shouldn't absolve them of responsibility to provide that maintenance.

Microsoft supports Windows versions for ten years, and I agree that's crazy for Android. However, three years I feel is a bare minimum expectation. Devices tend to remain on the market for about a year, and the standard phone contract is two years. So three years from a version release should cover the vast majority of users for the life of their device, should they choose not to take "system upgrades" which may slow their device or change it in an unwanted manner.

[cwyers]

I agree that DEVICES should be covered for n years, where n is somewhere between 3 and 5 and we can quibble about the specifics later. I don't think that backporting fixes should be the way we gauge this if newer versions are available instead.

[ocdtrekkie]

The problem is that newer and better are not synonymous. And most Android users have probably learned by now that their devices getting slower with each update, not faster.

[eropple]

Mine are getting no slower and often feel snappier. 5.1 was a big improvement over 5.0 on my Z3C.