Yarr, me hearties! Them PC gamers be sayin' goodbye to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, as Valve be droppin' 'em!
2024-01-02
Avast ye! 'Tis now the hour, mateys, when Valve be proclaimin' that Steam shall cease to lend a hand to a few Windows systems. No more security updates or tending to the needs of ye landlubbers!
In the language of a 17th-century pirate, avast ye PC gamers! It be time to retire yer old Windows OS, as Valve be announcin' in an official blog post that Steam won't be supportin' Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 after January 1, 2024.Arrr, according to the official Steam blog post, them current Steam Client installations on them named operatin' systems won't be receivin' any updates, includin' security updates. Steam won't be offerin' technical support or guaranteein' Steam functionality after that fateful date.
Arrr, according to the latest Steam hardware survey, only 'bout 0.89% of Steam users still have Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 installed, which be 'bout the same as them with Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics cards. Not an insignificant amount considerin' that there be 31 million online Steam users, but still a rather small population, so the dropped support be makin' sense on that front.
Valve be recommendin' users to update their OS as the core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, and future versions of Steam will be needin' Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above. The post also be mentionin' the general security risks of keepin' these operatin' systems installed without proper security updates. This be sound advice considerin' that Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 in 2020 and Windows 8.1 in 2023, me hearties.
But that ain't all, buckos! Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 be not the only ones walkin' the plank, as Microsoft be plannin' on endin' support for Windows 10 in 2025. This be puttin' a significant amount of users out of an unsupported OS and, as analyst firm Canalys be puttin' it, could cause an environmental disaster. Them laptops runnin' Windows 10 that don't meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11 be unlikely to be recycled, resultin' in an estimated 240 million PCs becomin' e-waste. Arrr, the options be payin' for prolonged support, like with Windows 7, but that only be extendin' the lifespan by three years and costin' more each year for payin' users.
It remains to be seen how Microsoft be handlin' this potential catastrophe, especially since in recent years they be showin' a bit o' a change in terms of sustainable and easily repaired hardware, as well as other environmental issues. Keep yer eyes peeled, me hearties!