Now let's see how many truly did that
Thing is... the real life situation doesn't differ all that much for the vast majority of people, which is why ASUS does this the way it does it. They know the market that is really eager for that compatibility is possibly small enough to ignore OR the benefit in sales doesn't weigh up to the cost for them.
Its not the first time. And its going to be a recurring thing.
I'm not saying AMD is in any way at fault here for setting up their sockets as they do. Kudos to them for TRYING. Its just that for numerous reasons most people still see themselves buying new boards every gen or other gen. And this is especially true if you're not upgrading every gen which most people don't do to begin with.
I do like how you all rush to the defense though, lol
This. And its falls straight into the trend we know of them, way too loose agreements with industry partners, too much leeway that gets abused time and time again. Whether its timely support, availability, time to market, or general PR and communication. Something is always amiss.
Not good for perception. And definitely, most definitely this is an AMD problem more than anyone else's. Its not just ASUS either, every partner will be making up the balance here, every single time with every new release. Its a cost/benefit scenario for them and AMD should eradicate that thought to begin with: it should be 'you sell our product, damn well make sure you support them for the full lifecycle or you're simply not a partner anymore'.
Note that the time between the release of Zen and Zen 3 is a mere 2,5 ~3 years now. One could question the practical use of switching hardware yearly or even bi-yearly, especially with the baby steps we're getting gen to gen.