Upcoming processors will only support Windows 10, says Microsoft

Microsoft has said that the newer generation of processors will support only the latest Windows 10 OS platform. The Redmont-giant adds that as time passes it expects users and enterprises on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to upgrade to the latest OS.

Microsoft’s Executive Vice President for Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson, made the announcement in a blogpost. His post says, the company has been working with silicon partners like Intel, AMD, NVidia, and Qualcomm to ensure that newer processors can take full advantage of Windows 10 OS.

In the blogpost, Myerson goes on to say that, “Windows 10 will be the only supported Windows platform on Intel’s upcoming ‘Kaby Lake’ silicon, Qualcomm’s upcoming ‘8996’ silicon, and AMD’s upcoming ‘Bristol Ridge’ silicon.”

According to the blogpost, Skylake devices on the list will continue to support Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 till July 17, 2017. After this 18-month support period is over, Microsoft expects consumers to upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft will post a list of supported Skylake devices by next week.

Microsoft says they are “prioritising transparency with enterprises on where to find the highest reliability and best supported Windows experience: Windows 10 on any silicon, Windows 7 on the down-level silicon it was designed for, or a device on the support list.”

In short, Microsoft expects not just regular consumers, but also enterprises to upgrade to Windows 10 if they want security, better performance with their systems. For Windows 7, the security support will only be on previous generation of processors till January 14, 2020, while for Windows 8.1 the date is January 10, 2023.

Several devices with older processors which are running these versions of Windows are still available on the market. Microsoft says that after July 2017 it will only deal with the most critical issues on these builds of Windows. According to the company, over 200 million people have activated Windows 10 already.

Last week Microsoft had already announced that it will stop supporting Windows 8, older version of Internet Explorer, encouraging users to move to the latest Windows 10 OS. With its new policy on processors, Microsoft is making it clear: enterprise or a regular customer, you need to move on to the new Windows 10 OS soon.