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.
Unless some tyrannical government forces the people of its nation to use certain protocols it only allows to be used, such is highly unlikely. Even if it were, there will be renegades who get around even these government controls.
In today's world, open source is gaining increasing ground over proprietary protocols.
As for manufacturing the chips, there are far more chip manufactures today and this should increase as technology matures.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_integrated_circuit_manufacturers
The ones who are worried, as well they should be, are MS, Apple, and other proprietary OS providers. Most anything windows10 can do, you can pretty much do on a $35 Raspberry Pi running some version of Linux or Android.
Government is who will and have implemented controls over what can be processed/communicated. Break particular laws and you will loose your freedom/life if caught. All the big IT players work with government to their mutual advantage.
None know what the future holds, but if things continue they way they have, with the free exchange of information and freedom to develop new ideas, I expect the ability to manufacture IC components and even CPUs to greatly expand.
Interesting, they will push people right out of Windows. What an arrogant group. Who needs a PC.
From what I read they are forcing the companies themselves to install backdoors. So that’s happening now. We do live under a tyranical govt. What they cannot force in court, they force through regs and the consumer has no choice when crap is done at the source.
Let me ask a rhetorical question. Doesn’t apple essentially do the same thing? At least Microsoft supports non-MS hardware.
“So... if you’re being gang raped, you should just relax and enjoy it?
I would prefer to fight against it to the best of my ability.”
And can you tell me how you are going to “fight against it” ?
Besides, being gang raped is a bit different than how Facebook/Google/Microsoft/Apple/Oracle are selling your identity as their business model or gubmint is registering your name for SSN.
And can you tell me how you are going to "fight against it" ?I use Linux as my primary operating system.
I only run Windows in a virtual machine. As much as possible, I disable network access for the Windows VM. I take a snapshot before doing something potentially risky, and then roll-back the VM to it's earlier state, which eliminates any chance of a virus or other problem from surviving.
I use Duck Duck Go as my primary search engine.
Etc, etc, etc.
Yes, you see this in everything nowadays. Another example of course is Obama care.
I assume you bought your hardware with cash, don’t have credit cards, wear masks while in the public. Also, you do not have a SSN or pay annual taxes (since you do not make any traceable income/earning)?
Tor and any anonymizing service won’t do you any good... if the communications include your system guid
considering the majority of servers run linux... what chip will they use?
I guess it’s going to be my old systems and linux for a while to go.
I purchased a new laptop after Christmas with an Intel i7 Skylake processor. It came with Windows 10 pre-installed, but I also installed the current version of Ubuntu Linux on it to dual-boot. Apart from a few issues with some of the peripheral hardware (wireless adaptor, touchpad) that I am working to resolve, the operating system itself seems to run fine.
However, I don't know whether this article applies to Skylake processors currently on the market, or future iterations yet to be released. (I have no plans to downgrade to Win7 or 8 anyway.)
On saturday I put Windows 10 on a 11 year old Toshiba Satellite A105-S4074 laptop. Erased XP and installed the 32bit version of Windows 10 and used my 32bit cd I had from a purchase of Windows 7 that came with both 64bit and 32bit cd’s for the license. The Intel chip did not support 64bits.
Starts up in about 30 seconds and shutsdown immediately. I am giving it away to a relative. They can worry about the spying. I will look for 3rd party tools that will block microsoft from spying. I do not trust the Yes/No buttons under Privacy as Microsoft still collects the information and has already “accidentally” turned back on the settings you turned off when they did an update. Why would Microsoft have these settings if they were not selling YOU?
I will install 10 on my pc’s then activate then remove 10 so I qualify for the free version if I decide to go ahead with using 10 once I am satisfied I can block Microsoft’s spying.
Toshiba laptop specs. I have a 500gb 7200rpm hard drive and 4gbs of ram.
http://www.pcworld.com/product/1327645/toshiba-satellite-a105-s4074-notebook.html
Yeah, but he's using one that has DUAL 5 1/4" 360K floppies. :-)
Disable Windows 10 spying
http://bgr.com/2015/08/14/windows-10-spying-prevention-privacy-tools/
Okay, ask yourself, what is the reason for ending support of Windows 7 and making new CPU’s only support Windows 10?. Money is the only reason I can think of.
Now, how is Windows 7 different from Windows 10 when it comes to making money for Microsoft?
If they end support, what does it matter if people continue to use Windows 7 instead of Windows 10? Once again, what difference between Windows 7 and Windows 10 that makes money for Microsoft?
The Microsoft Store. Windows 7 doesn’t have it. Windows 10 does. Every copy of Windows that has the Microsoft Store potentially makes money for Microsoft. Windows 7, without the Microsoft Store, doesn’t. If Microsoft can force all of those Windows 7 users into Windows 10, many will buy stuff from the Microsoft Store in Windows 10.
Microsoft may have offered a piece of the store sales action to Intel, Dell, HP, etc. if they push Windows 10.
So, follow the money, right to the Microsoft Store. That must be the answer as to why Microsoft is pushing, even forcing, and giving away Windows 10 to users that don’t want it. Up-selling from the Microsoft Store.
The Apple Store and Google Store make a lot of money for those companies. Microsoft wants to do the same, but its Windows phone is a flop and loses Microsoft money on each one sold. All they have left to offer their Microsoft Store through is Windows 10. That’s got to be the reason for all the high pressure tactics to upgrade.
What about Linux? How can MS demand that Intel and AMD exclude that functionality?
I have always wondered about that axiom.
If it is MY cake, then why can't I eat it? Why would I buy or make a cake if the goal was not to eat it?
I just completed the switch this weekend. I'm very happy with the results.
For your remaining applications, try PlayOnLinux. It's great. It is available in Ubuntu's and Mint's Software manager.
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.