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User-Made Patch Lets Owners of Next-Gen CPUs Install Updates On Windows 7 & 8.1 (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: GitHub user Zeffy has created a patch that removes a limitation that Microsoft imposed on users of 7th generation processors, a limit that prevents users from receiving Windows updates if they still use Windows 7 and 8.1. This limitation was delivered through Windows Update KB4012218 (March 2017 Patch Tuesday) and has made many owners of Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Bristol Ridge CPUs very angry last week, as they weren't able to install any Windows updates. Microsoft's move was controversial, but the company did its due diligence, and warned customers of its intention since January 2016, giving users enough time to update to Windows 10, move to a new OS, or downgrade their CPU, if they needed to remain on Windows 7 or 8.1 for various reasons. When the April 2017 Patch Tuesday came around last week, GitHub user Zeffy finally had the chance to test four batch scripts he created in March, after the release of KB4012218. His scripts worked as intended by patching Windows DLL files, skipping the CPU version check, and delivering updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 computers running 7th generation CPUs.
The motive is simple: Force Win10 on everyone so they can force the Windows Store on everyone so they can get everyone's money.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
..no, they just want to put a gun to everyone's heads and force them to use Windows 10. Really, they do.
Meanwhile a few of us will continue babying along Windows XP until we can get Linux running. Microsoft can go pound sand, I'm not playing anymore.
If this was anyone but Microsoft, that may well be right.
But this IS Microsoft, and they have been doing their absolute damnedest to shove Win10 down everyone's throat in every conceivable way possible.
Further, there is absolutely nothing stopping them from releasing any necessary updates to support the newest processors, assuming updates are even necessary. They've done this plenty of times in the past. Windows XP was supported for, what? 15 years? No CPU problems there. Windows 7 has been around for 8 years, and up till now there hasn't been any issues with processor updates. There have been a whole lot of new CPUs released over the past 20 years, and yet suddenly NOW it's a problem? I don't think so.
I don't understand how this is isn't class-action suit worthy. Microsoft has explicitly declared that they refuse to honour the contract that they would support Windows 7 until 2020.
What are you afraid of? That he'll install something which listens to every word you say? That it'll record every mouse click? That it will uninstall your applications? That it'll change your defaults in preference to it's own?
Uh...I kinda forgot if I was talking about zeffy or MS.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Let me install a proprietary OS coded by some random Indian guys, packaged by Microsoft who have asked you to trust them when they say they will slurp and sell as much as your personal information that they can (you did click I AGREE after all), while whoring out your computer to serve ads.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
No one expects MS to provide support for new processor or platform features.
We do expect the exact same files for OS security patches to be made available to all since the files don't care what the underlying processor is.
In the very rare case that some bug pops up on new processors but not old processors, then it's errata time, along with a BIOS/UEFI/microcode patch to fix it without Windows even knowing about it.
> Why are they scumbags?
Like, philosophically? I guess because if there aren't vile antagonists, humans would have little to strive against.
Do you mean, practically? Presumably because they think it lines up with their business model, and they have no intention of serving their paying customers if they can get away with not doing that thing.
Or do you mean, why does THIS particular thing exemplify their scumbaggery? Well, that should be obvious: if you have a Windows 7 license, nothing on that box states or implies that the software will be broken by design on Intel chips past a certain date, for no reason except to invalidate the value of your purchase.
> Are you going to pay them extra to keep supporting Win7 on new hardware like that?
If you bought a Windows license, you already did. Nothing about it says "works with these exact chips: beyond that, we can guarantee nothing".
Much more relevantly, testing security and even functional patches on chips which jump through every hoop in the universe to be backwards binary compatible with THE NINETEEN EIGHTIES is no great effort. Not supporting OLD hardware is reasonable for OSes, assuming they don't screw over too many people. Not supporting NEW chips which are backwards compatible is UNPRECEDENTED in the industry. It's just a stupid cash grab to try to force everyone onto that supernaturally awful Windows 10.