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Microsoft: Only the Latest Version of Windows Will Support New CPU Generations (windows.com)
Joe_Dragon sends news from Microsoft about how the company will support Windows now and in the future. The company says PCs built with Intel's Skylake chip, and other new architectures in the future, will require the latest version of Windows for support. This doesn't take effect right away; Windows 7 and 8.1 will be supported on older chips until their planned end-of-life dates, in 2020 and 2023 respectively. They'll also be supported on a list of current Skylake devices for the next 18 months. After that, only the latest version of Windows will support integration between the operating system and new CPU features. "For example, Windows 10 will be the only supported Windows platform on Intel's upcoming 'Kaby Lake' silicon, Qualcomm's upcoming '8996' silicon, and AMD's upcoming 'Bristol Ridge' silicon." Microsoft also mentioned that for new supported systems, the company will "ensure all drivers will be on Windows Update with published BIOS/UEFI upgrading tools." The submitter adds, "Putting BIOS/UEFI updates in to the Windows 10 auto- / forced-update system may open Microsoft to paying $600-$1,000+ to replace broken laptops. If Windows tries to update BIOS/UEFI at a bad/risky time (like during power instability in a big storm), it could lead to an update loop or worse."
As long as the chips adhere to the X86/x64 standards, how relevant is this announcement? Yes, newly introduced extensions and features may not be backported to Windows 7, but unless this OS will not run at all on next-gen silicone, this is nothing but FUD.
Am I missing something here? Do Skylake et al. really require substantial modificaitons to existing OSs?
Rudolf Hess edited Mein Kampf. He was the very first grammar nazi.
Seriously, how much longer are you Microsoft holdouts going to put up with this imperialistic, authoritarian bullshit from Microsoft? They are doing everything they can to jam their spyware/malware OS down your throat whether you asked for it or not: as you well know if you have 7, Vista, 8, or 8.1, you're getting it shoved in your face, installed whether you ask for it or not, and if somehow you manage to dodge all that, they're still trying to sneak in their 'telemetery' (read as: spyware/malware) updates onto your systems so they can collect your personal data, steal your files, and whatever else it is they're doing that qualifies as cybercrime. When is someone who has the power to do so going to step in and stop them?
Go ahead, Microsoft shills, mod me down to neg one troll, go right ahead, you're just proving that what I'm saying is true by trying to silence me -- but you can't, and you can't silence everyone else out there who is saying the exact same things!
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
New chips are generally always backwards compatible. What MS is saying is that new features / flags / instructions will not be exposed.
Shrug.
Windows is dead.
Microsoft is dying.
Nothing to see here.
You REALLY have to stopp polluting the discussion with facts.
Just remember that the tradeoff in Windows is constant breakage and the need to fix glitches manually.
FTFY.
Honestly, if you think your assertion is the right way around then you really haven't tried the pair recently. I've just recently been called upon to do some work moving data out of a Microsoft SQL d/b into some pre-defined XLS spreadsheets. Sounds simple doesn't it? It took two of our software support guys two days to manage to find a magic combination of Microsoft products which would actually interwork together in the advertised fashion. In contrast, installing, configuring and starting all the tools I needed on my Linux system took one command - admittedly I had to press Enter a second time to confirm the system's choices - and then waiting for about 30 seconds.
The Microsoft software environment is a horrendous nightmare when compared to trying to do the same thing on Linux.
systemd? Seriously? Get over it man! And Gnome 3 and KDE stuff as well.
You are trolling here. Your argument is lame. You blame Gnome 3 and systemd to make Linux be like Windows and you conclude Windows 10 will then be found much better by people. Really? You are just trying to coat your old complains with new frosting.
However, I believe Microsoft is perfectly entitled to drop support for newer processors in old versions of Windows. Supporting old versions of Windows cost money and doesn't gather money anymore. Microsoft has made it clear; Windows 10 is the last stop and Windows 10 will be a rolling distro. They clearly no longer play the marketing confusion game with multiple versions of Windows. They will put the money where it is likely to profit. Supporting old versions of Windows is not profitable whatever the prima dona think about how better they were.
Now, I really fear for the enterprise I am working for these days. They are just starting to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 on the desktop. Soon they will be forced to migrate to Windows 10 as the old generations of Intel processors will be phased out. Someone will have to kick his own arse before being kicked hard.
Achille Talon
Hop!
"Putting BIOS/UEFI updates in to the Windows 10 auto- / forced-update system may open Microsoft to paying $600-$1,000+ to replace broken laptops. If Windows tries to update BIOS/UEFI at a bad/risky time (like during power instability in a big storm), it could lead to an update loop or worse."
Laptop... power instability in a storm....
I'd like to add back to the submitter: Laptops are the least likely thing to suffer from power instability in a storm, unless your battery is completely dead and can't ride through a basic power outage, in which case I doubt your laptop is worth $600-1000 anymore.
As often as Microsoft screws up regular updates, why in hell would we trust them to update something that can brick our computers when it fails?
Fuck. That.
"I believe Microsoft is perfectly entitled to drop support for newer processors in old versions of Windows."
Even more: that's not dropping support. "Dropping" implies something was supported and it is supported no more. If doing something, like being able to boot up on processor X, was never in the feature list, you are not "dropping" anything by still being unable to boot up on processor X.
A different issue, and one that, given Microsoft history, wouldn't surprise me, would be if Microsoft were to go out of their way to add an "update" to test for the new processor and refuse to boot on that.
Most people don't actually use any applications other than the browser these days, chromeos is actually an ideal choice for a significant proportion of users.
There's also a lot of people who regularly use the internet but have never heard of windows, fixed lines are rare in a lot of developing countries so most users are on mobile and are generally using android devices.
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Ya know, NT used to run on Sparc, PowerPC, Alpha and MIPS.
If those versions had sold, Microsoft would have kept selling them. The market spoke. The users made their choice.
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The XP effect is what you missed.
People got used to 12 year old operating systems on new hardware and are flabbergasted and shocked that a 6 to 7 year old OS before UEFI, USB 3/type-c, nvme ssds, NFC printers, dynamic storage acceleration, advanced power states, ddr 4 ram, can't support these without hacks and significant work by Intel with drivers bolted on to an old platform.
Shit you needed a proprietary sata driver for freaking XP as the install CD couldn't even a hard disk for its last 6 years of life??! Windows 7 is heading into this territory folks now.
Historically PCs needed a OS upgrade every 3 years.
I know I will be modded down and flamed but come on folks. This is Slashdot for those that love technology. Not a forum that is anti technology that fears change. You can still run Windows 7. Your old PC is fine and haswell still is made and fully supports 7!
If you want new things it makes sense a newer OS from this decade should support it. FYI the pro version has hyper-v and you can run old software fine.
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