> Show me where it specifically states that legacy operating systems won't run on newer Intel/AMD architectures. You'll have a hard time, because it doesn't. This is FUD... I can tell you that MS not only won't do this, they can't.
Before I find the articles that claim to quote Microsoft on this, let me be sure we're talking about the same thing, namely:
>> Microsoft says they will not generate the new support code to Win7 and Win8.1 that is required to properly operate the latest and future Intel (and AMD) CPUs.They allegedly said this first about Skylake some months back, but after customer pushback, they backpedaled and said, "Okay, we'll give Win7 and 8.1 support for Skylake... but that's it, no support for Kaby Lake or the AMD equivalents." And by extension, anything after that.
I would LOVE to be wrong about this. So maybe while I'm trying to find the announcements from Microsoft I read, you can find ones where they say the opposite -- that they WILL provide support for the latest and future CPUs for Win7 and 8.1.
You see, I'd be THRILLED to find out that this article is FUD (as you say) and that Win7 and 8.1 WILL get support for these new CPUs. Reason? I have a farm of hardware that we use for (among other things) product compatibility testing including Win7 and 8.1 naturally. And I don't want to have to tear my hair out making sure that future hardware purchases DON'T include the latest CPUs just so that I can run Win7 and 8.1 on them.
So, please, DO show me where Microsoft has pledged to provide support for Kaby Lake and Zen architectures in Win7 and 8.1. You'll make my day. I'm completely serious, no sarcasm here.
As far as the future, I do expect they'll draw a line eventually, just as they did with the 286 and 386 and 486 -- no party lasts forever. :-)
August 11, 2016 9:53 am -- Updates to Silicon Support Policy for Windows -- By Shad Larsen / Director of Windows Business Planning
As previously communicated earlier this year, future silicon platforms including Intel’s upcoming 7th Gen Intel Core (Kaby Lake) processor family and AMD’s 7th generation processors (e.g. Bristol Ridge) will only be supported on Windows 10, and all future silicon releases will require the latest release of Windows 10.Has this been recinded?