It rubs me the wrong way because it means staying on a smaller treadmill.
Linux supports my 9-year-old PC just fine. But once you move outside "last two stable versions of Chrome or Firefox" some websites quit working. Since I only have 16GB of RAM, some hungry apps can't run at the same time.
We've all heard it before, I don't need to say it again. "Modern" means "Pay more to run faster on a shorter treadmill, or we'll shame you"
It’s probably because you understand that “modern technologies” often means “buzzword-laden blobs of unproven hype”. They’re the words typically chosen by software developers driven by trends who think new is always better and can’t concentrate on any project for long enough to see them through. The type of developer who pursues every shiny thing and sells their souls to VCs.
Meanwhile, serious developers with a proven track record who ship and care about stability and longevity understand that boring technology is best.
Toasters have been around for a long time. So has Javascript. I suppose that I can buy a modern toaster or an antique toaster. Still, they both seem unremarkably like toasters to me. Likewise, I can run an old Javascript program or a new one. It feels like being modern isn't really all that special. I wonder if no matter how old the tradition of writing software becomes, we'll always want to associate it with modernness. Will certain software writing ever become artisanal?