Microsoft says next-gen CPUs will require Windows 10

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Windows 10 is off to a very impressive start, but there are still an awful lot of holdouts (including yours truly) who are sticking with the tried-and-true Windows 7. (Windows 8, not so much.) But like it or not, the time is coming when an upgrade won't be an option, because Microsoft says that older versions of Windows simply will not run on the coming generations of CPUs.

Windows and Devices Group Executive Vice President Terry Myerson's recent post on the Windows Blog, entitled “Windows 10 Embracing Silicon Innovation," begins with a note about how well Windows 10 works on Intel's sixth-gen Skylake CPUs. “Compared to Windows 7 PC’s, Skylake when combined with Windows 10, enables up to 30x better graphics and 3x the battery life—with the unmatched security of Credential Guard utilizing silicon supported virtualization,” he wrote.

Unfortunately for Win7 adherents, the news after that isn't quite so happy. Myerson acknowledged that large numbers of people are still running the older Windows and that transitioning to Windows 10, especially for large-scale businesses, takes time. But he also made it clear that the clock is ticking.

“Windows 7 was designed nearly 10 years ago before any x86/x64 SOCs existed. For Windows 7 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 WiFi, graphics, security, and more,” he continued. “As partners make customizations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing.”

Windows 7 will be supported for “security, reliability, and compatibility” on previous-generation CPUs through January 14, 2020, while Windows 8.1 will get the same treatment through January 10, 2023. But “as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support,” Myerson wrote. As an example, he said that Intel's upcoming Kirby Lake, Qualcomm's 8996, and AMD's Bristol Ridge will only support Windows 10.

Microsoft will release a list of specific Skylake devices that it will continue to support on Windows 7 and 8.1 next week, to ensure customers can upgrade to new hardware now even if they're not yet prepared to make the move to Windows 10. That list will be maintained until July 17, 2017, after which “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.”

 

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Microsoft won't support new generation CPUS on operating systems older than Windows 10 Phil Iwaniuk pcgamesN

Every rose has its thorn, every day has its dawn. And, of course, every OS success story is tempered by some form of backwards compatibility downer. In this case it's Windows 10 enjoying widespread use, on over 200 million devices the last tie Microsoft counted. But, as the company just announced, they'll no longer be supporting 6th generation CPUS in Windows 7, 8, or 8.1. If you want to run a Skylake system on trusty old Win7, you'll henceforth be doing so at your own risk.

Microsoft's executive vice president of Windows and devices Terry Myerson delivered the news via an otherwise upbeat post on the Windows blog entitled "Windows 10 Embracing Silicon Innovation." That's one spin on it, sure.
Myerson begins by emphasising how well Intel's 6th-gen CPUs are working with Windows 10: "Compared to Windows 7 PC’s, Skylake when combined with Windows 10, enables up to 30x better graphics and 3x the battery life."
"We and our partners are continuing to invest," continues Myerson, "innovate, and update to drive continued performance improvements across Windows 10 and Skylake devices."
The flipside of that coin though is that Windows 7, built on ten-year-old code, and in addition all versions of Windows 8, won't be getting support for new CPUs.
"We know many of these customers continue to rely on Windows 7 for its well understood reliability and compatibility," says Myerson.
"Windows 7 was designed nearly 10 years ago before any x86/x64 SOCs existed. For Windows 7 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 WiFi, 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."
That's an extremely upbeat way of saying anyone still on Windows 7 who fancies themself a bit of 7th-gen Intel CPU action is going to have to make the jump to Win10.
However, Microsoft will release a list of specific Skylake-powered Windows 7 devices made by their partners which they'll be supporting until July 2017.
Outisde of that list, machines running an older OS and Skylake CPU architecture and beyond could risk a growing number of security threats, or straight up incompatibility.