Valve has just announced that the Steam Client has deprecated Windows XP and Windows Vista. On January 1st, the Steam Client will stop playing video games unless you upgrade to at least Windows 7. They have also announced that new features, like the updated Steam Chat, currently in Beta, will not be brought to those platforms, because why would they bother when they’re going to obsolete in about six-and-a-half months? Don’t poke it if it works, and fix what doesn’t.
The pun writes itself…
Linux and macOS are still fine of course.
In terms of market share numbers, 32-bit Windows XP is sitting at around 0.34%; Windows Vista is unlisted. I doubt this will affect many of our viewers unless they have a “retro PC hobby”. Still, to some extent, it sucks that DRM shuts down games that could otherwise run on the target environment. It’s not like they can just make the games DRM-free for the affected OSes, though, but it’s still something to think about.
And, yes, both OSes (XP SP3 and Vista SP2) are already deprecated by Microsoft.
good move by them, they are
good move by them, they are having to have security updates for operating systems they are no longer supported by microsoft.
What Valve needs to work on
What Valve needs to work on is getting its software working under any of the Linux kernel based hypervisors out there so folks can continue to run Windows 7 inside a Linux Kernel based Hypervisor/VM instance like KVM/Xen/Other Linux Kernel based Hypervisor and folks can run Windows 7 that way after 2020.
Of course Valve will be supporting Linux as Steam OS is just a Linux kernel based OS Distro derivative but Linux Kernel VM/Hypervisor support should be added/maintained so Windows 7 can be run safely there after 2020 with a DX12 to Vulkan translationl layer. CPUs With 8, 16, and even more cores(Treadripper 2 at 24 or 32 cores) should be plenty for hosting a Linux VM hosted Windows 7 instance and keeping Windows 7 alive and running under Linux and no need for windows 10 while more games are ported over to native Linux/Vulkan gaming. MacOS via MoltenVK or even running a Linux OS on Apple Hardware also will take some work but that’s an option also.
Windows 7 is actually different from the XP to windows 7 transition in that the only choice now to transition from 7 is to a Locked down Windows 10 closed ecosystem that many will never want. So more work needs to go into Keeping windows 7 alive and running safely isolated in a Linux Kernel hypervisor based insance.
Folks hosting Linux Projects on Github better be aware that M$ will not want Windows 7 alive that way past 2020. So it’s best to get on over to another hosting service ASAP if you want to work towards getting Windows 7 up and running any legacy games in a Linux Kernel Based VM/Hyoprvisor Instance or other windows application software that’s no longer supported by Redmond.
Be very aware that M$ does not want the last Really Open Version of Windows(Windows 7) to be running past 2020. So Your choice of Git hosting site matters now more than ever!
M$ has got some of its Infamous 3 Es going on for sure so do not be fooled into thinking things are any different for any True Linux freedoms. Get your GitHost services out from under the shadow of the Empire if you value your software freedom! And that Freedom includes the freedom to host a windows 7 instance safely and securely locked down under a Linux Kernel Hypervisor Instance after 2020.
I guess I should have played
I guess I should have played Fallout III when I had the chance.
??
This is about getting rid
??
This is about getting rid of support PRIOR to Windows 7 so not sure how this applies.
Plus, Fallout III works great even in W10, though for W10 you need to apply the workaround patch (easy) for MS’s GFWL issue. It’s called:
Games for Windows Live Disabler
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/1086/
I use it with the Nexus Mod Manager along with: Archive Invalidated Manual Version, Fallout 3 Redesigned, EVE, Fallout 3 Re-animated and thirteen texture mods
(also modified config ini to force dual-core CPU usage, and forced the “3GB Enabler” tool to allow more system memory usage)
There are a lot of games that
There are a lot of games that won’t run on anything more recent than XP. Are Valve going to personally patch all of these, or are they going to continue to be happy profiting from the sale of non functional products?
They’ve got a refund system
They’ve got a refund system in place that works pretty well, I’m not sure there’s a huge concern about this cheating people out of new purchases. Legacy owners are a bigger concern but I do wonder genuinely how many people could not feasibly move to Windows 7 at least.
lmao who needs QA when they
lmao who needs QA when they have a return policy less generous than is legally required!