 |
 |
|---|
Posted on 01/17/2016 6:38:49 AM PST by dayglored
Soon, when you buy a new PC, it won't support Windows 7 or 8. Microsoft has announced a change to its support policy that lays out its plans for future updates to its older operating systems, and the new rules mean that future PC owners with next-generation Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm processors will need to use Windows 10.
It's not usual for old PCs to fall short of the minimum requirements of a brand new operating system, but in this case, the opposite is happening. Microsoft and its partners will not be putting in the significant work necessary to make new hardware work with older versions of Windows. The old operating systems, at best, will merely lack the latest updates. At worst, they might not function properly.
"Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support," Microsoft notes in a blog post published on Friday. "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."
This new policy doesn't mean that Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer supported in general. The two operating systems will continue to get updates through January 14, 2020 and January 10, 2023, respectively. But that's only if you're using hardware that was contemporaneous with those operating systems.
For current PC owners, the detail to note is that Intel's current, sixth generation processors, known as Skylake, are the first that won't support either of the older versions of Windows. (Intel and Microsoft say that the [Skylake] platform and Windows 10 were designed for each other.) Microsoft is phasing in the policy now.
For the company's all-important enterprise customers, who often lag behind on hardware and software updates in order to guarantee stability, Microsoft says it will be maintaining a list of approved Skylake systems that are guaranteed to have Windows 7 and 8.1 support through July 17, 2017. That gives companies an 18 month grace period to buy modern hardware for employees before committing and implementing upgrades to Windows 10.
After the grace period, only "the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed for these configurations, and will be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices." Companies and consumers, of course, can still buy older PC hardware that doesn't utilize Intel's Skylake platform or other modern CPUs — the last generation of supported Intel processors are known as Broadwell, and those chips are still widely available.
The policy change not only makes Microsoft's hardware partners happy — they no longer are on the hook to develop as many costly software updates for past versions of Windows — but it also helps Microsoft push adoption of Windows 10. The company sees the operating system as the "final" version of Windows; it's now a service, not a product, and this change better reflects that. There's only one current version of Windows, and while Microsoft will fullfill its legacy hardware obligations, it won't be expending resources to help users steer clear of its latest and greatest.
|
|
|---|
UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 10. DO IT. NOW
If you are really concerned about privacy, use Tor and other clearly anonymizing technologies. If you use corporate Windows/Mac/IE/Chrome/Safari and still whine about privacy, you are just proving that you want to have your cake and eat it too.
Remember the desktop icon that represented "the computer"?
First, it was "My Computer".
Then it became "Computer".
With Windows 10 it became "This PC".
It ain't been "yours" for a while....
You don't have to necessarily go all the way to using TOR. You can use Linux, with care, as I do on my private systems.
You can run VMWare (or some other VM environment) and tell Windows 7 the PC is running a current generation Intel i7.
I’ve been running Windows 10 on a PC XT and while it runs slow and in CGA, the hardware was cheap!
Or possibly, some third party is making them "co-join" at the point of some serious threats....
That's just a little hard to believe.... :-)
Hopefully this will draft down both Microsoft and Intel. Intel has not been in great shape anyway with the move to mobile platforms. Before I put Windows 10 monitoring on my computer I’d switch to Linux or Mac OS. But these days you can get away with all mobile if needed.
One question would be, will the new processors block the installation of non-MS operating systems i.e. Linux? I believe that this has been discussed in the past.
By the end of 2016 I should be completely on Linux except for a couple of ham radio applications. One works under Wine and the other is tentatively slated for porting to non-Windows operating systems in 2017.
The irony is heavy with this one.
Yes, there are already platforms that do not allow installation of non-officially-approved operating systems. Of Linux distros, I think RedHat has gotten official approval, but most of the Linux distros are in no position to cough up the considerable change required to "get approved".
On the other hand, if he were more technically inclined, he would do well to convert the keyboard and bring its mechanical keys to a modern machine. Those keyboards, while being old, still fetch good sums - even after conversion.
Ah, Windows "10" binary == "2". Missed that... need more coffee... :-)
For ARM platforms (Windows RT), the lock was mandated. Naturally, that flopped quite hard.
For Intel platforms, the option was mandated.
Sounds like Microsoft’s moving from the Extend phase to the Extinguish phase.
If We The People won’t buy a machine that won’t run anything but Win10, somebody will provide new ones that will.
Or we’ll switch to an alternative OS...
I assume this means Microsoft and Intel have kissed and made up, and are sleeping together again.Or possibly, some third party is making them "co-join" at the point of some serious threats....
At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.