Microsoft unveils latest bid to force Windows 10 upgrades

Microsoft will block updates on said systems until they are updated to Windows 10.

We already knew Microsoft was planning to offer official support exclusively for Windows 10 on the new Intel and AMD CPUs, but it seems the company is planning to go to great lengths to ensure these chips aren’t used with older versions of the OS.

However, what we didn’t know at the time is that Microsoft would take the drastic step of actually shutting down ALL access to Windows Update for Ryzen and Kaby Lake processors running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. However, all of the four upcoming chips feature support for simultaneous and continues multithreading which allows each core to run two threads. It can do that on Windows 10 because it’s a current product, and it will be installed on most new-build PCs running these processors.

Interestingly, this doesn’t affect only x86 processors; Qualcomm’s ARM-based 8996 is listed as part of the new requirement as well, despite that being a very niche solution for the moment.

However, Microsoft’s forceful attempts to make people install Windows 10 might be Linux’s gain – there are a hundreds of Linux distros to choose from, from the popular Ubuntu and Mint distributions to Remix OS Android, for example. Of course Microsoft pledged that it would put an end big numeric updates to Windows.

It must be noted that Microsoft already ended mainstream support for Windows 7 in 2015, and its extended support will expire in 2020. You won’t get access to new security patches and automatic updates. So users with those operating systems will also be forced to upgrade in order to keep updates coming. The question is how many Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users read the company’s blog posts-many of which are unlikely to appeal to the average consumer-or care about the company’s seemingly arbitrary decision not to update now supported operating systems to support the latest-and-greatest processors. However, PC Advisor suggest that the Windows-maker is likely to delay the launching in October during the Creator Update event.

Unless Microsoft sees the outrage which has erupted in some corners of the internet over this, accusing them of engaging in another underhand way to push Windows 10 upgrades – and the company thinks better of it.

The bottom line? If you’re building or upgrading a system around Kaby Lake or Ryzen, it’s pretty much Windows 10 or bust.