Microsoft updates support policy: New CPUs will require Windows 10

Found on ZDNet on Saturday, 16 January 2016
Browse Software

Windows 7 (currently in the Extended support phase) will continue to receive updates until January 14, 2020, and Windows 8.1 will be supported until January 10, 2023. But in a series of "clarifications" to its support policy today, the company announced that support for those older Windows versions will be available only for "previous generations of silicon."

For enterprise customers that want to buy "future proof" new hardware based on Skylake processors running older Windows versions, Microsoft will publish "a list of specific new Skylake devices we will support to run Windows 7 and Windows 8.1." That support will run for a period 18 months, until July 17, 2017, after which those enterprise customers will be expected to upgrade to Windows 10.

Seeing that some Windows enterprise customers still run NT or XP on core systems, MS is digging a deep hole there. You listen to what your customers want and need, instead of telling them what to do. This agressive Windows 10 marketing and PR campaign can backfire really hard.