"This new compiler has the incredibly awesome feature of being forwards compatible
right? Like in 10 years stuff compiled with a newer compiler will still work?"
That's the promise at least :)
All the macros that leaked implementation details (like file descriptors) are now isolated so if they change it won't break existing applications. It'll still be possible for newer compiler versions to break them, but the design now obviously discourages it.
There's also an official guarantee, so if it is broken in future it'll be treated as a bug. As much as I'd love to make solid promises, I can only pass on the promises that were made to me.
But yes, we should have forward compatibility with later MSVC versions, which will help avoid the situation where it's hard to get hold of the right compiler...
Top-posted from my Windows Phone