As DaveP1 said, won't this eventually be true for Maemo as well? Maemo 6 is due out supposedly within a year. Is there some intrinsic reason forward/backward compatability will be simpler with Maemo? I'm honestly asking. Also, I don't know about the technical side of this, but isn't this part of the whole reason Google went with Java, to allow from more general compatability and an easier platform for coders to deal with? Or is that wrong?

Also, given that Android is projected by market Analysts to pass the iPhone platform in two years and have several times over more marketshare than Maemo (and I personally think Google is such a huge juggernaut eventually Android will completely dominate the market), for better or worse, won't this force developers to make things work? Hasn't the ubiquity of Windows driven the plethora of applications that work under different versions, regardless of whether it's a pain in the butt? I see this playing enormously to Android's advantage in the long run.