[michaelfeathers]

Agreed. Breaking changes can lead to alienation of user base, but I think there's a danger in lulling people into expecting that kind of constancy in software. It creates dependency of another kind. Maybe the trick is to vary features at some rate, getting users used to change and bringing them along.

In retail it used to be the case that you could go to the same store a month later and see the same shirt to buy. The Sears catalog [1] presented that sort of constancy for consumers. Today there's a lot of flux. Some of it actually engineered to prevent people from delaying purchasing decisions. In software we can and do introduce breaking changes for ease of maintenance, and that can be ok as long as people are used to it. It's making the choice to have a living ecosystem.

[1] http://www.searsarchives.com/catalogs/history.htm