Microsoft stops support of old Windows on new PCs. What?

Microsoft is making some terrible changes to the Windows support
policies. For the first time, older versions of Windows won't be
supported on new hardware.

Specifically, you won't be able to run Windows 7 or 8.1 on
Skylake CPUs or later. Well, there are a few get-out-of-jail-
free cards for a short time, but this just seems like the latest
Microsoft blackmail to get enterprises onto Windows 10.

In IT Blogwatch, bloggers can't disguise their disgust. Your
humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your
entertainment.

What's the craic? Ed Bott reports—Microsoft updates support
policy: New CPUs will require Windows 10:

In a change to its longstanding support policy, Microsoft says
PCs based on new CPU[s] will require Windows 10.
…
Historically...Microsoft's support lifecycle [offered] a
generous ten years of support for each Windows release.
Effective today, that policy is changing.
…
In a series of "clarifications"...the company announced that
support for...Windows [7 and 8.1] will be available only for
"previous generations of silicon."
…
New consumer-based Skylake devices must run Windows 10. [But]
Microsoft will publish "a list of specific new Skylake devices
we will support to run Windows 7 and Windows 8.1." [But only]
for 18 months.

[It] doesn't mean that Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer
supported. ... The two operating systems will continue to get
updates through...2020 and...2023, respectively. But that's only
if you're using hardware that was contemporaneous.
…
[But] Intel's current, sixth generation processors, known as
Skylake, are the first that won't support either of the older
versions. [You] can still buy older PC hardware...the last
generation of supported Intel processors are known as Broadwell,
and those chips are still widely available.
…
While Microsoft will fullfill its legacy hardware obligations,
it won't be expending resources to help users steer clear of its
latest and greatest.

We’ve seen...over 200 million active devices already running
Windows 10 and unprecedented demand from...enterprise customers.
…
For Windows 7 to run on any modern silicon, device drivers and
firmware need to emulate Windows 7’s expectations...which is
challenging.
…
Windows 7 will continue to be supported...through January 14,
2020 on previous generation silicon. Windows 8.1 will receive
the same...through January 10, 2023.
…
Windows 10 will be the only supported [version] on Intel’s
upcoming “Kaby Lake”...Qualcomm’s upcoming “8996”...and AMD’s
upcoming “Bristol Ridge”.

Ouch. Gordon Kelly cuts to the chase, with Microsoft Makes
Windows 7 And Windows 8 Support Worse:

Refusing to honour
Think your copy of Windows 7 is supported? ... Think your copy
of Windows 8 is supported? ... Think again.
…
Microsoft is...refusing to support Windows 7 and Windows 8 on
Intel’s current generation ‘Skylake’ processors, with the
exception of a “list of specific...devices.”
…
Yes, you read this right: Microsoft is breaking from 31 years of
Windows history by refusing to honour its promised Windows
lifecycles.

Double ouch. Paul Thurrott cuts to the chase—Microsoft Finds
Another Way to Force Windows 10 Upgrade on Businesses:

Any means necessary
This behavior is mostly hard to justify, and is a far more
serious issue than the non-existent Windows 10 privacy issues
that others carp about.
…
And I am reasonably sure this has never happened before.
…
There isn’t a business on earth that would go to the trouble of
deploying on Skylake hardware now only to have to upgrade to
Windows 10 in the near future.
…
In other words, this is more of the same: Microsoft pushing
customers to Windows 10 by any means necessary.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:
Microsoft is

Snit.

Gesundheit.

"From the crosspost factory, straight to you."

The only thing missing in the crosspost,
was throwing in an Apple group.

Paul

On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 23:01:26 +0100, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:

Microsoft is making some terrible changes to the Windows support
policies. For the first time, older versions of Windows won't be
supported on new hardware.

There is nothing new here. A more disturbing fact is newer versions of
windows may not support existing hardware. I lost two scanners this way.
The fact is, those of us who wish to stay with windows7 or earlier can do
so as long as we continue to run the same programs and hardware. I use
TaxAct and hopefully future versions will continue to run on my system.
Most of the time I'm running Linux and those distributions also have a
defined support limit. Printers and scanners are probably the most
problematic. I can run WordPerfect for dos using dosbox, but printing
could be a problem although probably possible to find a work around.

On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01... e_windows_10/

Dave C wrote on 01/18/2016 9:58 AM:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 23:01:26 +0100, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:

Microsoft is making some terrible changes to the Windows support
policies. For the first time, older versions of Windows won't be
supported on new hardware.

There is nothing new here. A more disturbing fact is newer versions of
windows may not support existing hardware. I lost two scanners this way.
The fact is, those of us who wish to stay with windows7 or earlier can do
so as long as we continue to run the same programs and hardware. I use
TaxAct and hopefully future versions will continue to run on my system.
Most of the time I'm running Linux and those distributions also have a
defined support limit. Printers and scanners are probably the most
problematic. I can run WordPerfect for dos using dosbox, but printing
could be a problem although probably possible to find a work around.


What newer versions of Windows are you expecting to see before 2025 ?


--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

Big Bad Bob wrote on 01/18/2016 11:17 AM:
On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01... e_windows_10/



The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility� support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility�."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.

--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:41:22 -0500, ". . .winston"
wrote:

Big Bad Bob wrote on 01/18/2016 11:17 AM:
On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01... e_windows_10/



The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility” support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility”."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.

I bought my PC last June. How do I know if I have Skylake?

On 2016-01-18 2:18 PM, Elias wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:41:22 -0500, ". . .winston"
wrote:

Big Bad Bob wrote on 01/18/2016 11:17 AM:
On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01... e_windows_10/



The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility” support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility”."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.

I bought my PC last June. How do I know if I have Skylake?

Intel's Skylake processors are the sixth generation of i processors and
therefore have a number attached to them starting with 6. For instance,
I have a i7-4710HQ. The 4 in there indicates that I have a fourth
generation processor. If yours is a Skylake, it will start with 6.
--
Slimer
EFF & OpenMedia member / IFAW, Mozilla & PETA supporter
"Everything seems to work fine, except that occasionally everything
freezes." - Another one of GNU/Linux's many victims

On 2016-01-18, Elias wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:41:22 -0500, ". . .winston"
wrote:

Big Bad Bob wrote on 01/18/2016 11:17 AM:
On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01... e_windows_10/



The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility” support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility”."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.

I bought my PC last June. How do I know if I have Skylake?

How do you know if ANY PC bought at ANY time has it?

Are they going to start marking machines "Windows 10 only" to make it
easier on the poor rubes that don't even know issues like this exist, never
mind finding a suitable tool to interrogating the hardware with.

Is this going to be another one of those situations where the "quick and
easy" answer is to boot a Linux live CD and use the tools built into Linux?

On 2016-01-18, JEDIDIAH wrote:
How do you know if ANY PC bought at ANY time has it?

Look up the CPU model number. It should be under BIOS system info if
nowhere else. Dell has been selling Windows 7 Pro systems equipped
with Skylake CPUs.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elias wrote on 01/18/2016 2:18 PM:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:41:22 -0500, ". . .winston"
wrote:

The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility� support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility�."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.

I bought my PC last June. How do I know if I have Skylake?


I've used a 3rd party tool called CPU-Z from CPUID.

Download the above he
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

Installable and Stand-alone 32/64 bit versions are available(the former
as an exe file, the latter in zip file format)

When run...
If Skylake the Skylake name will appear in the Code Name field.

e.g. The device used to reply to this post reports
Name: Intel Core i7 4770
Code Name: Haswell


--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

Elias wrote:

I bought my PC last June. How do I know if I have Skylake?

If you pull the processor out of the socket,
is the processor "bent" ? If so, you have Skylake :-)

Example here.

http://www.legitreviews.com/some-cpu...ke-cpus_175933

And you can try chasing down the info, via cpu-world. If I don't
like the info on ark.intel.com, this is my second choice as a source.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Releases/De...es_(2015).html

Many of the bent ones, are likely this model. As you're
more likely to put a heavy after-market heatsink on it.
The cheesy little processors might actually come with the
standard push-pin heatsink.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i...0i7-6700K.html

The Intel "strategy" slide, indicating 6700K people are
more likely to use after-market coolers.

http://imagescdn.tweaktown.com/news/...ock-cooler.jpg

Paul

In comp.os.linux.advocacy Slimer wrote:
On 2016-01-18 2:18 PM, Elias wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:41:22 -0500, ". . .winston"
wrote:

Big Bad Bob wrote on 01/18/2016 11:17 AM:
On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01... e_windows_10/



The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility� support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility�."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.

I bought my PC last June. How do I know if I have Skylake?

Intel's Skylake processors are the sixth generation of i processors and
therefore have a number attached to them starting with 6. For instance,
I have a i7-4710HQ. The 4 in there indicates that I have a fourth
generation processor. If yours is a Skylake, it will start with 6.

Have to be careful though. That's not all of them.
There are also some Xeons and recent Pentiums and Celerons.

http://ark.intel.com/products/codename/37572/Skylake

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-P....149858.0.html
quote
The Intel Pentium 4405U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core SoC
based on the Skylake architecture and has been launched in September
2015. The CPU can be found in ultrabooks as well as normal notebooks.
/quote

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news...fa-2015-734820
quote
The S400z sports a 21.5-inch FHD display, and comes with Intel's
processors (choice between Core i5-6200U, Core i3-6100, Pentium 4405U),
with up to 8GB of RAM, up to 2.5TB HDD, and integrated Intel HD Graphics.
/quote

". . .winston" wrote in message ...

Dave C wrote on 01/18/2016 9:58 AM:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 23:01:26 +0100, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:

Microsoft is making some terrible changes to the Windows support
policies. For the first time, older versions of Windows won't be
supported on new hardware.

There is nothing new here. A more disturbing fact is newer versions of
windows may not support existing hardware. I lost two scanners this way.
The fact is, those of us who wish to stay with windows7 or earlier can do
so as long as we continue to run the same programs and hardware. I use
TaxAct and hopefully future versions will continue to run on my system.
Most of the time I'm running Linux and those distributions also have a
defined support limit. Printers and scanners are probably the most
problematic. I can run WordPerfect for dos using dosbox, but printing
could be a problem although probably possible to find a work around.


What newer versions of Windows are you expecting to see before 2025 ?

The one the Chinese are coming out with.

In article
". . .winston" wrote:

Big Bad Bob wrote on 01/18/2016 11:17 AM:
On 01/17/16 14:01, Anonymous Remailer (austria) so wittily quipped:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3023533/microsoft-
windows/microsoft-support-windows-10-new-hardware-itbwcw.html

more he

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01..._join_in_perfe
ct_harmony_to_praise_windows_10/



The Register said:
"Windows 7 is already getting put on a nil-by-mouth diet: it gets
“security, reliability, and compatibility� support for older silicon
until January 2020 (2023 for 8.1).

After 2017, Microsoft's post states, security fixes will only be
released if they don't pose a risk “reliability or compatibility�."

Microsoft said:
"hrough July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also
be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period,
these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving
support after the period ends. After July 2017, 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."

There's a big difference
- the risk and reliability comment applies to Skylake Win7 devices
after July 2017, not all Win7 devices.

As noted elsewhere - no change in 2017 for 7/8.1 except for Skylake.


It doesn't mean an OEM can't produce a CPU that conflicts with
Microsoft's sales policy.

Suspect that they will.

There will always be VMWare and fast SSDs so MS can't really
enforce the policy anyway.

My virtual OS museum will survive intact and there isn't a
damned thing they can do about it.