It is absolutely possible to care, and love, and cherish something -- while also be willing to let it go, so you can move on to something else. And it's software, not a human child or something. These are absolutely not in conflict, at all. Why does this even need to be said? Are half the people here robots? Apparently they are, because the moment someone talks about throwing away some software, people begin making allusions to child rearing.
Bringing out dictionaries is just a way of being an annoying pendant; nitpicking phrasing like "... and care for" in a Merriam Webster definition does not make you sound like someone enlightened "loving" or in tune. It makes you sound like that insufferable jackass, that guy everyone avoids, because they have to remind everyone "but what about the pedantry" anytime any complaint exists in the public sphere.
I'm not trying to sound anything at all. I'm trying to understand his point of view. I broke out the dictionary to help establish whether he was using the word as I understood it, not as an attempt at irritating pedantry.
The discussion is about whether it matters that these 32-bit apps (and more generally, all software eventually) will be lost to us. In that context, whether you cherish the thing or the memory of the thing is a crucial distinction.
As for being loving or "in tune", jumping on strangers who are trying to understand somebody's point of view is neither. It is precisely the behaviour of a jackass.
Some people are genuinely upset when they lose the use of cherished thing, be it a pen, a car, or the iOS games or other apps which they enjoyed using, and ignoring that or dismissing that out of hand betrays a lack of empathy.
Bringing out dictionaries is just a way of being an annoying pendant; nitpicking phrasing like "... and care for" in a Merriam Webster definition does not make you sound like someone enlightened "loving" or in tune. It makes you sound like that insufferable jackass, that guy everyone avoids, because they have to remind everyone "but what about the pedantry" anytime any complaint exists in the public sphere.