Paul, I do agree that the problem you outlined in the article is bothersome, but on the other hand I try to face these types of things realistically.

If I had a file that I hadn't updated in 7 years, and then found out that it didn't open easily in a current version of the application, but had to do some work to get it open, I would not be too put off by it.

These types of situations always crop up with all out of dat applications, NO MATTER WHO the developer is.

At least that 7 year old file is salvageable, and Apple is still making a newer version of the originating application.

Things could be A LOT worse, if you have an old file, and the application that created it is no longer available.

I have some beautiful Hypercard files that I worked on, but Hypercard app is long dead. There is no way to open those files (there are some expensive third-party apps that claim to open them, but I have not heard good reviews of them).

Operating systems, apps, and technologies in general change over the years. We either learn to live with and accept that reality, or we can decide to suffer over it.