Microsoft says new processors will only work with Windows 10

With that in mind, Intel Skylake-based computers currently running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will now have an early official end of support on July 17, 2017. “To support these organizations, we are offering different options to receive and manage updating to Windows 10”. Recently, the company has stopped supporting the life support for the Windows 8 operating system after the survey done by the Netmarketshare.

Microsoft is making a change in its Windows support policies that will affect those in the market for new PCs who aren’t yet ready to go with Windows 10.

In the past, Windows 10 was criticized for its politics of forcing updates, some of which led to bugs and system instability.

Of course, the fact that the survey was carried out soon after Windows 10 was released might suggest that many of these respondents were still enjoying the “honeymoon period” of their time using the new OS. Windows 7 is still popular with consumers but is beginning to age rapidly. For it to run on any modern silicon, device drivers, and firmware need to emulate Windows 7’s expectations for interrupt processing, bus support, and power states – which is challenging for Wi-Fi, graphics, security, and more’. As partners make customizations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing.

In the future when your hardware no longer supports key operating system features it will cease to receive major OS updates.

The USB Type-C presents a similar challenge, as it is too new for Windows 7 to tap into it.

Microsoft’s statement makes no mention of its server operating systems.

Microsoft underlines that, for optimal performance, systems sporting the latest hardware need to have the latest generation operating system. He told us that change was driven by a desire to preserve quality.

This will force a jump to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 in order to keep receiving security updates and stay protected against malware, spyware and viruses.

Microsoft assumes a role of quality control for systems that work primarily on Windows, even if some of the user experience depends directly on third-party contributions. Tying the newest silicon to the newest platform greatly reduces this complexity for the entire PC ecosystem. Microsoft will be providing some support for new processors on older Windows versions. The OS will be seven years old this year and PC hardware has moved on considerably since then. They will provide well-tested experience when running the old operating systems. Both CPUs will feature Windows 10 compatibility out of the box. “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”. Windows 8.x will end 10 January 2023. The company has changed hardware requirements for supporting older versions of Windows, by only supporting new silicon on Windows 10 moving forward.

After July 2017, I’m not sure what downgrade rights will look like for those buying new Windows PCs.

The company says all users should upgrade to Windows 8.1, or Windows Ten. “Sometimes getting new software means saying goodbye to old hardware”.