[Development] Windows 7 support will be dropped in Qt 6

[Max Paperno]

I would restate my objection by pointing out again [1] that Win 7 is 
still the 2nd most popular desktop OS in the world, with 3x more users 
than all MacOS versions combined.  Never mind Linux, which is on par 
with Win XP users (the previous "known good" Windows version prior to 7).

Any software publisher not catering exclusively to the "cool kids" with 
the "latest and greatest" mentality would be shooting themselves in the 
foot by dropping Win 7 support at this point.  That's millions of 
potential users.  Depending on one's market, of course.

I would bet Qt could save a lot more resources by dropping MacOS/Linux 
support entirely.  Not saying that's a good idea, but dropping the 2nd 
most popular OS instead doesn't make any sense to me either.

Yes, anyone needing to support Win 7 can still use Qt 5, which is what's 
going to happen for several more years at least. I though one of the 
goals for Qt 6 was quicker adaptation than the Qt 4 -> 5 migration. 
 From this move, and everything I've seen discussed on the devs list 
lately, I just don't see that happening. Seems like one breaking change 
after another (even if each individual one is relatively minor, they add 
up quickly).

There was plenty of negative feedback left on QTBUG-74687, but it was 
all either ignored or dismissed. Why bother even asking people's opinion 
if the decision had already been made?

Lastly, please everyone get off their high horse about how you're 
leading reluctant (or "clueless") users to a better and more secure 
future by "encouraging" them to "upgrade" to Win 10. There are numerous 
reasons NOT to switch to Win 10, especially if one actually understands 
how to properly handle computer security, is concerned with privacy 
issues, and/or just wants to get some work done instead of constantly 
installing forced OS updates. NVM just the hassle itself of screwing 
with a working system. Also I don't know what "latest features" people 
are talking about (from a user perspective) -- I'm definitely a computer 
"power user" and I can't actually name one Win 10 feature which I can't 
do in Win 7 (touch-centric UI being an exception in some cases, which is 
only useful for tablets and mostly just gets in the way on a desktop). 
And anyone suggesting Win 8 has clearly just never actually tried it.

-Max

[1]: 
https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-74687?focusedCommentId=498172#comment-498172