Microsoft says it's blocking Windows 7, 8 patches on latest AMD, Intel chips

[silicon_toad2000]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3181814/windows/microsoft-says-its-blocking-windows-7-8-patches-on-latest-amd-intel-chips.html

When Microsoft said last year that it would restrict the latest Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Ryzen silicon to Windows 10, enthusiasts wondered what would happen if they tried running those PCs using Windows 7 or Windows 8. Now we know: no new patches.

Word of a new Microsoft support document surfaced Thursday, applying the stick to those bold enough to try and pair an older Microsoft OS with the latest silicon. The upshot: Windows will block any updates from appearing on your PC until you upgrade to Windows 10.

Specifically, you may see one of two error messages, Microsoft said:

    ”Unsupported Hardware: Your PC uses a processor that isn’t supported on this version of Windows  and you won’t receive updates.”
    ”Windows could not search for new updates
    An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.
    Error(s) found: Code 80240037 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.”

According to Microsoft, “This error occurs because new processor generations require the latest Windows version for support,” the document says. As Microsoft has stated before, those processor generations include Intel’s 7th-generation Core chips, AMD’s Bristol Ridge, or Ryzen, processors, and the Qualcomm 8996. Windows 10 is the only Microsoft OS supported on those chips, Microsoft said.

[White Stripes]

i wonder how many new mac and linux users there are due to windows 10 and microsofts new policies...

[silicon_toad2000]

hopefully a few

[arthur]

That's strange a little, but okay.

[DaBees-Knees]

Isn't that what is known as a restrictive practice? If it isn't outlawed it should be.

[White Stripes]

Isn't that what is known as a restrictive practice? If it isn't outlawed it should be.

the end user clicked 'i agree' ...  you dont think it says 'my computer' and not 'your computer' for no reason?....

[silicon_toad2000]

can you still buy windows 7 or 8? even as oem

[White Stripes]

yes but not for very long

[silicon_toad2000]

isnt the windows licence driven by hardware.

i guess if you have new chips, you have a new computer, there's probably not many users who would have a retail copy of 7/8 to instal on a new machine.
as much as noone liked it, i think even the retail version of windows was limited to x number of machines you could activate windows on.

still as you said, linux is free and from what i understand games quite well with the whole steam thing.

linux and open/libre office are as much as most people need.
I know the open source spreadsheeting programs do fine until you need to use VBA.

[MinersLantern]

win7 can be downloaded from microsoft, I think, unless they got rid of it.
It runs fine as a "demo" for 3 months. Updates and all.
Naturally, there are ways to make the thing stay in "demo" mode forever.
Kinda a tangenty thought, since this story is how they detect your processor and restrict you that way.
How about run a virtual cpu, on the latest hardware. Microsoft isnt going to know it.
Microsoft trying to ruin its own company. Time for Bill Gates to return and fire everyone involved.