Microsoft will not support upcoming CPUs on Windows 7 or 8.1

Microsoft will not support upcoming CPUs on Windows 7 or 8.1

 

Microsoft will not support upcoming CPUs on any platform other than Windows 10, which includes Intel’s Kaby lake, Qualcomm’s 820 and AMD’s Bristol Ridge CPUs.

Microsoft hopes that this will be the final nail in Windows 7’s coffin, no longer delivering any security or bug fixes coming to their older OS’ when using new CPUs, making the OS insecure and unreliable on these new platforms.

Windows 7 will be receiving security updates until January 14th 2020 and Windows 8.1 will receive long term support until 2023, but now we know that this support will only be done with older hardware in mind.

 

      Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support. This enables us to focus on deep integration between Windows and the silicon, while maintaining maximum reliability and compatibility with previous generations of platform and silicon. For example, 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.

  

 

This means that if you want to use a new CPU, you will need to use an new OS, which is certainly a spanner in the works for companies who wish to use modern hardware but are still running on an OS. 

This does not mean that Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 are end of life now, but it effectively means that for those who plan on upgrading their CPU in the future. Microsoft says that they are doing this so that they can really focus on Windows 10’s support for newer hardware, but in reality they are simply dropping a lot of support for their older operating systems.

 

You can join the discussion on Windows 10 being the only Windows platform that support upcoming/future CPUs on the OC3D Forums.