Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Quietly Cuts Off Windows 7 Support For Older Intel Computers (computerworld.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: If your PC doesn't run Streaming Single Instructions Multiple Data (SIMD) Extensions 2, you apparently won't be getting any more Win7 patches. At least, that's what I infer from some clandestine Knowledge Base documentation changes made in the past few days. Even though Microsoft says it's supporting Win7 until January 14, 2020, if you have an older machine -- including any Pentium III -- you've been blocked, and there's nothing you can do about it.
...if you're not an idiot and don't go to random sites/click "run" on downloaded files, you're reasonably safe...
Excellent, using your idea, we don't need to patch anything ever again. The answer has been right in front of us all this time, we would have never figured it out if you hadn't come along. I won't even need to help older relatives when they fuck up their PCs, I'll just print out your post and stick it below their screen
Windows 7 is the Best Windows. , better than all versions which came before it and after it. The only thing it lacks is out of the box USB 3.0 support. The drivers not on the install disk but you ca add it.. That's all. It's everything you need.
Windows 8 was a stupid movie. "Let's change the UI, because, fuck it, let's change the UI." Nothing else.
And Windows 10 with its intrusive spying and adverts truly sucks ass. It didn't add anything of value either.
Microsoft is pushing out new versions because no one has gone for their subscriptions so new versions is how they make money. That is all.
> b0s0z0ku : Also, if you're not an idiot and don't go to random sites/click "run" on downloaded files, you're reasonably safe.
Wow. You really are an idiot. Precisely the sort of idiot who needs to be protected with security patches.
So, if a company just decides they don't want to honor the promises they made, they should be able to walk away whenever they want? That's incredibly moronic and you know it. Microsoft led customers to believe they would receive support through the EOL date. Prematurely ending support is going back on their word, and it shouldn't be legal for them to do this.
The last Pentium III chip ever created was released in 2001.
2001. That is 17 years ago. Last computer built with this ancient technology is probably from 2005, over ten years ago. Much of the hardware machinery, such as mechanical drives and fans, should've stopped working by now. If they miraculously still work, Linux is a prime candidate to run on this super-old system for that last mileage.
Face it, Windows 7 is on it's death bed, and if you do not like it, go Linux or go home. :)
systemd is not an init system. It's a GNU replacement.
Last P-III was 2001 or 2002. People/companies generally nurse such old hardware along because they have to (it controls factory hardware, etc), not because they want to.
Doesn't change the fact that Windows 7 officially supports Pentium IIIs (32-bit x86 1GHz or higher) and has stated support to 2020. And that this inherently means if they're running in specific applications and are exploited because of malware because of a lack of updates, Microsoft can be sued through the ass not to mention be potentially brought up on fraud charges*. But, yea, let's try to spin this into being a minor issue and wholly the users fault.
PS - Even using your out of the ass numbers of 0.5% of computers (really using just Windows 7 sales (300 million), which is a smaller number), and you're talking 1.5 million computers. You don't think 1.5 million computers as part of a botnet would be a big thing? Or replacing 1.5 million computers early would be a big thing? Seriously, the sheer scale of expected support should have shut down Microsoft considering such changes.
Of course, the real lesson here is to cut Windows products out of your environment as much as possible. Any company that believes it can just mandate substantial changes to your business so you can keep accepting patches to fix ITS bugs is a trainwreck.
* Large corporations quite specifically are maximizing the life of bought hardware and scheduling software purchased based upon a support cycle. Anything that upsets that can be a massive loss.
Embedded systems like medical equipment, displays, measurement equipment, etc.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Not importance-wise. Likely applications that will be networked is medical imaging, display boards, some measurement equipment, SCADA system front-ends, etc. This is a real fail on their part and, if I were up to me, they would be liable for any and all damage they cause.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I keep saying - This is just the thin end of the wedge. Or in this case, now a slightly thicker part of the thin end of the wedge; It'll keep getting worse and worse until 'no support in 2020 but you can still use it on existing systems' slowly turns into 'deliberately crippled on all systems so you have to use windows 10'
Don't listen to all these astroturfers putting down old systems just because they're old.
If they could run Win7, there's no good reason why the goal posts should suddenly be moved.
I'm not a member of the ReactOS project, just shilling as an alpha user who's impressed with the progress so far.
Yes, the project has been around for two decades, but it's made remarkable strides in the last couple of years. Give it two more—coincidentally when all support for Win7 ceases—and I think people will be pleasantly surprised by its usability. My only concern is that the Kremlin has dumped a bunch of money into the project, and I'd feel better if someone did an independent security audit of the code to see that Vlad didn't have some backdoor put in.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
You're far from alone in that, my friend. A bunch of people I know got the same kind of treatment. I stayed with Apple and Microsoft for business reasons. I might finally start looking at Linux again soon. It won't be because I think the fanbois' manners have improved, but because I really don't like the "you don't own it, you only rent it" approach to software the big boys are taking.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Actually the indicator in the Steam hardware survey of a PIII would be lacking SSE2, currently Steam is showing 100% of computers surveyed as having both SSE2 and SSE3. Even then the vast majority are post Core2 even with support for SSE4.1 and SSE4.2. I honestly suspect this is a non-issue that affects primarily industrial applications, and honestly most of them are probably running XP without a care in the world. I was actually quite surprised by this story in the first place because I had been under the impression windows has required SSE2 since Vista.
Any and all content posted above may be ignored, considered irrelevant, or otherwise dismissed.
As long as windows 10 is spyware, changing to it is not "upgrading" or "modernizing". It's acceptance of abuse. And your insistence that it is something else is assistance of abuse.
When I can no longer run windows 7 on my PC, I will move the installation into VMware and run Linux on my PC. I will never run any newer version of Windows. Microsoft is now nothing but a malware distributor, and anyone proposing you use Windows is aiding criminal activity.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Also with Windows 10, Windows 10 is 'eternal', but your device running Windows 10 can at any point have it's support yanked, but "windows 10" is still supported, it's just that your device can no longer get updates....
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Many, many people agree with what you said. Microsoft is shockingly self-destructive. A few of the many, many negative articles:
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC."
7 ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you.
Microsoft again forced upgrades on Win10 machines specifically set to block updates (March 12, 2018)
Yes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
RHEL5 released in 2007 and is in extended support until 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
SLES11 came out in 2009, LTSS ends in 2022.
For fun, Solaris from 2005 is supported until 2021:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So while OSX and community distributions and Ubuntu LTS don't go that far, there are OSes that do. This is one reason why people snicker at Ubuntu's proclamation of 'Long Term Support', when the competitors have so much longer support cycles.
Of course, I wouldn't wish a RHEL5/SLES11 desktop on anyone, they are missing so many features in the current distros. Then again, XP also was pretty pathetic desktop experience wise when it was still popular relative to contemporary Microsoft desktops.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Why is it unreasonable to expect an OS to be supported until the date published by its developer a very long time ago?
It's not unreasonable but it might be ill advised.
And it makes for a real interesting conversation for what you will use for your next generation machinery controllers.
It's easy for us to rant on Slashdot about how stupid these companies who might be expecting say the PC controlling a huge forge to be supported for the length of time it was stated to be supported. Fr the PC jockey's view, 5 years is ancient.
But - and here's the kicker - when the manufacturer of that 100 million dollar forge is trying to make the sale - the buyer is going to ask about what operating system controls the forge. And if Microsoft OS - how will they know how long Microsoft will provide support will be asked. Finally - what happens if Microsoft drops support. Two years early? 5 years early?
The number of devices that are left hanging are small. But odds are they are big and expensive. And the takaways are two:
Microsoft has decided they don't have to offer support for as long as they say they do.
You cannot trust what they say.
This lack of veracity would have a rather large impact on purchasing decisions.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
And it makes for a real interesting conversation for what you will use for your next generation machinery controllers.
Yeah I'm kind of amazed how little consideration purchasers of this expensive equipment typically give to these sorts of important questions. I run a manufacturing company and I'm SUPER careful about investing in software or hardware that I think even has a chance of not being supported in future years. If something runs Windows that's potentially fine if I'm only expecting the equipment to have a service life of 3-5 years. Anything longer than that and there had better be a very specific service contract involved or it needs to run a system that doesn't depend on a third party for support. The presses and other heavy equipment we use in our company have software written by and for the company that sells the press and they can support it 100% for the expected life of the device. No third parties are involved and that's to our benefit.
Microsoft has decided they don't have to offer support for as long as they say they do.
Which is a risk you take whenever you depend on a third party who is not a signatory to the equipment purchase. You're basically making an assumption unless someone who actually works for Microsoft is in the room and signs a commitment obligating Microsoft for support.