In my discussions with Reddit admins, they've said that old.reddit.com will be around forever. However, it won't get new features (or a very watered down version of new features).

After all, .compact links [0] still work, and those are super old.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/imcl1h/reddit_a...

Yea sure, and Oculus will never require a Facebook account.

>However, it won't get new features

From the new features they have been adding lately, I'd call this a benefit... And that is the big disconnect between admins and the old community.

It's also just a regular profile setting to use the old design. RES isn't required.