C# 6.0: Many nice features but dependency chain is very limiting

Microsoft has done it again!

I've been dabbling with C# 6.0 features and I am really liking it. However, Microsoft has made adoption a real problem.

C# 6.0 is only supported in Visual Studio 2015. Ok so far but Visual Studio 2015 will only install on Windows 8 or later.

Gack!

Windows 8 was stillborn and no one wants to install it. Microsoft tried to convert its Windows desktop OS to a tablet OS and made a spectacular mess of it. So much so that they hastily released a Windows 9 (which they called 8.1 so they could offer it as a free upgrade). So dramatically didn't it fix things that they have now also offered Windows 10 as a free upgrade. People still don't want it so they have now taken the rather extreme measure of dramatically shortening the support agreement for Windows 7.

However, the whole mess of convolving the tablet OS with the desktop OS has left everyone afraid. Microsoft is trying to make the upgrade even easier (update is becoming more like a service pack) but many people that have Windows 7 aren't taking the bait.

In my office we are mostly still on Windows 7 and people are not eager to install new Windows versions. A few nice syntactic features in C# 6.0 aren't going to push people over the hump.

So, I've had to abandon C# 6.0 for now. I imagine this experience will be common and that adoption of C# 6.0 will be weaker than it should be.

To fix this Microsoft could decouple VS 2015 from Windows 8 or back port C# 6.0 into VS 2012. Otherwise, they risk losing momentum with what is really a great language and development environment. Come on guys, give us some better options.