Well, to me if you're using old software, it's nice but not especially critical to have the latest version of the old software. We can probably get by if we track down combo updates, security updates, and java updates. Anything else, like Safari, iTunes, Airport stuff, etc. - we can just browse for these things as we run into issues.

I totally think that software update is a much easier way to do this, and it's pretty lame that Apple would take it away, but we should still be okay. It's not like the software self-destructs when it has become old. That actually makes some sense to self-destruct software with a lengthy fair warning -- Apple would not want to be liable for any security issues with old software and it would also force people to buy new software / hardware after it expires.

So considering that, I'm still happy with it.