Previously, Microsoft said that they will end support for Skylake-based processors on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 before the OS's extended support date. Later processors, like Intel's Kaby Lake and AMD's Bristol Ridge, will not be supported on 7 and 8.1 at all. To use those processors, their associated devices will need to be running Windows 10 (or, you know, Linux or something).
This has just changed for Skylake, but not for Kaby Lake and Bristol Ridge. Skylake will now be supported through the entire life-cycle of Windows 7 (January 14, 2020) and Windows 8.1 (January 10, 2023). This is particularly good because Skylake was already released and in the hands of users when they first announced pulling the plug. Now users will know before they purchase their hardware (albeit not before many have purchased a retail copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.x with transfer rights that intend to continually upgrade beyond Skylake or to AMD's Zen architecture) that Microsoft will not support it outside of Windows 10.
Between large corporations
Between large corporations and governments a lot of people are too big for their britches.
WTF M$, a double standard for
WTF M$, a double standard for AMD and Bristol Ridge, there really needs to be some Bristol Ridge and Linux OS laptop options and Zen/Polaris APU or Zen/Vega APU Linux OS laptop options. Let’s hope the next Apple laptops that come after Apple’s upcoming Intel and Polaris macbook pro update will be some macbooks with some Zen/Polaris APU SKUs, so I can get a laptop that runs the BSD Kernel, and will probably do fine for the Linux Kernel also as the drivers are not hard to port over.
I’m tired of waiting for any Linux OS laptop OEMs to shed their Intel/Nvidia dependencies! If Apple would just dump Intel for its 2017/2018 line of macbooks and go all Zen/Polaris they would get my money! Then users could get AMD’s better graphics along with Zen’s x86 ISA running cores for better graphics on all macbook laptop SKUs! It’s not like Apple is using any top end Intel SKUs in their macbooks anyways.
If Apple really wants to be relevant again in new laptop innovations they would be funding a custom Zen/Polaris APU with HBM on an interposer module and saving a lot of space for a bigger battery in its macbook line of laptops. Apple has billions to spaff away on other less important things and Apple should be really focusing on some Zen/Polaris laptops that will get the people’s business who will never switch to windows 10. Apple could be getting plenty of business from customers who would dual boot MacOS(formally OSX) with a Linux distro and run Linux/Vulkan games and graphics software.
So, in laymans terms, what
So, in laymans terms, what does this mean for the casual user?
If I slap an AM4 Zen CPU into a Windows 7/8.1 machine, will it just not boot into Windows or something?
Or it won’t perform as well if it was supported?
And the fact that Windows can do this and no governments or consumers bat an eye is just… baffling, really.
Microsoft hasn’t been too
Microsoft hasn't been too clear about that. Even if it does work, it allows them to release a security update that bricks it (we'll assume accidentally because they refuse to test 7 and 8.1 on Zen). Could just work forever, though, albeit under an ever-looming dagger.
If the CPU/APU/SOC hardware
If the CPU/APU/SOC hardware comes out before a windows OS’s EOL windows 7/8.1 should at least have enough support to run under the new hardware as it’s x86 based, maybe not all the new processor’s hardware features will be supported, but really M$ is just shooting itself in the foot with this nonsense. This is really where Linux can get some market share on the newer hardware if M$ does not back off even more. M$’s risks driving more 7/8.1 users over to Linux and Apple/MacOS with all this windows 10 only hardware nonsense!
The “free” windows 10 upgrade install base relative to 7’s sill top install base after even a year of nefarious tactics from M$ to ram windows 10 down peoples’ throats should be an indicator of just how many potential customers M$ will loose to Apple’s MacOS, and the Linux based PC market come 2020 and 2023. There are a lot of windows 7 “Downgrade” installs from 8/8.1 Pro versions that will be able to go back to 8.1 after 2020 with the TIFKAM crap disabled! But now all that is up in the air and users will switch to Apple’s Hardware/MacOS and Linux and M$ will lose all the 7/8.1 install base very quickly if it continues to push its foolish windows 10 tactics.
This is definitely an indicator that all along people never really liked M$, and they liked 7 mostly because it stayed out of the users’ personal business and gave users more control over their own hardware. People like 7 and hate M$ more than M$ realizes, and many will go to Apple’s closed ecosystem before they go to M$’s even more closed ecosystem, as that EULA from windows 10 is much too far reaching in its ability to allow for M$’s intrusion into the end users personal privacy and loss of control over their own hardware. All that tasteless ad pushing under windows 10 will also help to push more users away from windows 10, and M$ for good.
The more you tighten your
The more you tighten your grip, M$, the more PC systems will slip through your fingers!
So when will Win 10 stop
So when will Win 10 stop supporting my Sandy Bridge?
Does that mean that they
Does that mean that they backtrack on Skylake-E/X too?
It would be daft on M$ part to stop support OS which have commanding 50%+ presence on the market (excluding pointless Steam surveys which are as relevant as last year snow) without any major competition in sight.
Glad i didnt buy into the
Glad i didnt buy into the Windows 10 free malware horseshit when i built my new 6700k based PC.
Got 8.1 and will not be allowing Windows update to infect my PC with its telemetry spyware either.
Utter bullshit imo. MS must
Utter bullshit imo. MS must be giving Intel a kickback of some sort for helping them continue to ram Win10 down peoples throat. Assholes…
Microsoft ploy to cripple PC
Microsoft ploy to cripple PC gaming delayed till Xbox competes better against Playstation?
Corporations vs regular folks: ∞+1 : 0
Yall got any of them monopoly
Yall got any of them monopoly money printers?… In all seriousness though, PCPer and everyone with strong influence on the tech community should collaborate on a “Switching to Linux, and what you can do with it” video/series.
A good amount of your audience probably doesn’t require much help, or simply continues telling themselves “They can’t switch” because they need to use software like Maya and Photoshop (like myself).
Either way, something tells me we should work together to not only spend as little time on MS-OS’s as possible, but contribute to other options preventing us from requiring anything else…
Obviously it’s possible, just look at what a little motivation has done in the past 10 years in 3rd party game development :/.
All hail the rise of the
All hail the rise of the Linux Desktop!