Not saying it is always good, in fact I would say there is rarely a "good" happy outcome in these cases, just trying to give the alternative perspective when you have to make these calls.
This is one of the problems with the switch from shrink-wrap software to always-upgrading software. Customers feel like they bought a thing so it should work forever but what they are really asking is that new software be continually written for the hardware they bought years ago.
If you want to run your old hardware with your old software forever, you can. But of course in a connected world where a million malicious parties are trying to take over your system, this is probably a bad decision, and that’s where the tension arises.
In the same way that PowerPC and m68k hardware still works, sure. Apple silicon is so performant that (much like those previous two hardware jumps) it's not worth maintaining support for the old arch at this point.
Apple's really cut off gaming for good. My only hope is that someone ports FEX/Proton to macOS, or finds a way to get it running with proper hardware acceleration.
But Linux has gotten better in that time period, too. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as refined out of the box. But Linux is ahead in the ability to do whatever you want and keep using your old hardware.
For people who care about how computers work, I think Linux is a more stimulating environment than macOS to work in. Even though—or partly because—you may have to dig in a little deeper to get things working the ways you want.
But also the unified memory on macs is compelling for somewhat related reasons.
If it weren’t for the supply chain nightmares on top of nightmares, we’d be experiencing a nice little moment.
Or switch software. Windows will run via Boot Camp and depending on your hardware Linux might work too.