Microsoft won't support next gen CPUs in older Windows versions

[DanceswithUnix]

Problem is chipset drivers aren't like any other driver on the system. I was reading a paper the other day about how they are looking to change event scheduling, this is when something signals across a boundary from kernel to user (IOCTRL) this was really down to changes in the low power chipset. I can totally believe that there is a hell of a lot of work from both sides involved in the design of this stuff. I can really see how backporting it could break all sorts of existing bits of code.

I agree it would be great if MS would address the concerns with 10, their march to a google style evil your data are belong to us.

But that just helps with power management. It is perfectly acceptable for MS to point out that Win10 will get you better battery life from event coalescing etc if that is a feature of only that OS, but they should accept that I have a desktop machine and won't care tuppence about that.

IME people generally don't backport drivers, you pretty much write a new one. Having been someone that had to write & support drivers for hardware that covered multiple operating systems including old SCO boxes (because some customers just don't ever want to upgrade) I think it is right that companies get to choose what their hardware supports. Heck, I had to learn tcl/tk to do that SCO Openserver driver which is a skill I haven't needed before or since or on any other OS but that was the standard for SCO hardware management GUIs so that is what I implemented. That is what driver writing is like, read the specs, big sigh, shrug, get on with it best you can. If there are a few lines you can cut & paste from elsewhere, that is a bonus

In my case as an end user, I just want Windows to play Elite with the least aggro possible. My last Windows change was from games going 64 bit as my 32 bit WinXP was no longer good enough. That is my challenge to MS, make me want to play Elite under Windows 10 enough to go through the aggro of an upgrade from 7. Up until the latest AMD hotpatch my video card was supposedly unplayable in Windows 10 which is partly why I haven't bothered so far. My laptop and my dad's are both on 10, and they both crash a lot. That isn't helping the MS case. Privacy? I can boot into Linux for that.

It's kind of like having some nice comfy slippers, and Microsoft are telling me that my slippers aren't comfy. Well, they have done that in the past but now they offer me free slippers, and that is nice but the free slippers are tartan with pink spots and embroidered unicorns which I'm sure I could wear but isn't really me. Besides, my feet are in these nice plain blue slippers and they are warm and cozy. But now I am being told that tomorrow any feet that aren't in spotted unicorn slippers will smell. Well, washing feet isn't the job of slipper manufacturers, and I prefer blue

[peterb]

It's kind of like having some nice comfy slippers, and Microsoft are telling me that my slippers aren't comfy. Well, they have done that in the past but now they offer me free slippers, and that is nice but the free slippers are tartan with pink spots and embroidered unicorns which I'm sure I could wear but isn't really me. Besides, my feet are in these nice plain blue slippers and they are warm and cozy. But now I am being told that tomorrow any feet that aren't in spotted unicorn slippers will smell. Well, washing feet isn't the job of slipper manufacturers, and I prefer blue

Genius (and if it wasn't so long, would be sigworthy!)

[CaptainAmerica]

Stuff it, It's going in!

[Saracen]

Genius (and if it wasn't so long, would be sigworthy!)

Indeed. I wish I'd said it.

[peterb]

Stuff it, It's going in!

Your're right, it's there!

Indeed. I wish I'd said it.

In the words of James McNeil Whistler. (to Oscar Wilde)... "You will, Oscar, you will"

[TheAnimus]

It's kind of like having some nice comfy slippers, and Microsoft are telling me that my slippers aren't comfy. Well, they have done that in the past but now they offer me free slippers, and that is nice but the free slippers are tartan with pink spots and embroidered unicorns which I'm sure I could wear but isn't really me. Besides, my feet are in these nice plain blue slippers and they are warm and cozy. But now I am being told that tomorrow any feet that aren't in spotted unicorn slippers will smell. Well, washing feet isn't the job of slipper manufacturers, and I prefer blue

But it's not really.

It's like saying that the new better performance feet are a difference size, and that it's built into the unicorn embroidery that they can cope with having an extra toe or two. Backporting that to the older slippers would be a lot of effort, and as these only affect people who get new feet, I can't see the problem with that.

[eugenius]

Excellent, Satya N. really wants people to use Linux.

[DanceswithUnix]

But it's not really.

It's like saying that the new better performance feet are a difference size, and that it's built into the unicorn embroidery that they can cope with having an extra toe or two. Backporting that to the older slippers would be a lot of effort, and as these only affect people who get new feet, I can't see the problem with that.

I have no issue with Microsoft saying they don't want to support a brand new CPU on an old OS, that's fine they just need to put up a list of what features won't work in an old OS. I can then choose if I want those features. Look at the low end of the PC market, and you find machines running FreeDOS. Not Windows 10, but brand new machines with the latest Atom SoC processors running DOS hacked up by a bunch of amateurs as a hobby. That level of backwards compatibility is both the power and bane of the PC world. Now single core and under 1MB of ram seemed pretty sucky to me in the 80's but it can and does work for those that can tolerate it.

Somewhere in the middle is Skylake. Existing machines already running Windows 7 and 8.1 which the customers are happy with, and are being told they need to upgrade. Perhaps this is just another case of MS having awful communication, but having read several articles on this as well as the original blog post it comes across as "spare the rod, spoil the customer" from people desperate not to have Windows 7 turn into another XP. Let's look at a couple of examples from the blog:

Compared to Windows 7 PC’s, Skylake when combined with Windows 10, enables up to 30x better graphics and 3x the battery life

Well that's nice, a carrot. If they said what hardware was running Windows 7 then perhaps the performance delta would mean something. I believe people running Windows 7 on their Skylake CPUs are quite happy with it, but if Microsoft can offer a 30x graphics boost then I guess an OS upgrade from those customers is a certainty. In fact, I would expect them to be mashing the Upgrade Now button. That isn't Skylake to Skylake though is it.

As partners make customizations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing.

Now that bit is just nasty, blaming hardware vendors like that. They are saying here that writing device drivers is hard and so hardware vendors might get it wrong. Actually, life isn't like that. Hardware vendors have been writing Windows 7 drivers for years, and are likely to get those right. Windows 10 is new, the device driver writers will still be learning the craft which is probably why my upgraded to Windows 10 laptop crashes when it didn't running Windows 7. Still, go back and look at the language used: no specifics, just a vague threat that Win 7 might become buggy. The same logic could say that Windows 10 might become buggy, but they don't say that.

So no, I don't get the extra toes thing. If the toes don't fall inside the footprint of existing slippers then that breaks backwards compatibility in the hardware and PC makers just don't do that. This is just FUD scaremongering, plain and simple and I had hoped that the modern Microsoft organisation was better than that.

My break is over, so back to writing code that stuffs values into hardware registers for me. It will work for all the company products released over the last 5 years as those are the ones in active support, regardless of how hard for me that turns out to be because that is my job and I think the customers actually matter. Modern platforms will be a bit quicker, but customers are OK with that.