1. That phone is NOT old. Who says we should buy a new phone every time some company wants to make some cash? The thing worked great and there was absolutely nothing that needed to be changed.
2. I do NOT want to be part of a throw-away society that benefits nobody but some company. Our planet does NOT have unlimited resources, yet we keep throwing away electronics like there's no tomorrow.
Then don't upgrade the software on your phone either. You consume energy every time you upgrade, further depleting our planet of its finite supply of resources.
The consumer is damned lucky that Apple even bothers to support phones beyond the last two generations.
If they did what they probably should have done, your phone would have reported, "Sorry, this update is not supported by your device," when you tried to install the latest iOS version. Then we'd be treated to even more wailing and gnashing of teeth from people who feel entitled to perpetual updates. Apple literally can't win here.
Edit: I will agree that they could 'win' by the simple expedient of permitting OS downgrades. There's no reason they couldn't let you revert to the last version you were happy with.
FYI: the 3GS was sold until September last year. I have non-techie friends who bought one. Probably in the reasonable expectation that a phone that is still being sold (and not in the aftermarket) gets updates for a while.
