Backwards compatibility isn't cut because companies think people don't care. It's cut because the cost of adding it in far outweighs the benefits of the feature. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses to keep your prices reasonable.
Then again, they are shipping a Kinect 2.0 with every system; that must add a decent amount to the production costs. I'd much rather the Kinect integration be cut entirely for backwards compatibility, but seeing how Microsoft is building the entire system around the Kinect now, it'll take much more than just some internet petition to get them to change their entire design philosophy.