Steam dropping support for Windows 7/8/8.1 on January 1, 2024

Windows 10 or 11 consumer (non Enterprise) editions have always been free, you just need to run a powershell command to whitelist your hardware forever, (persists across reformats), google "microsoft activation scripts" which is hosted on github (owned by Microsoft), so it cant be illegal/malicious ;)
 
.Pennywise said:
All of that whopping 1.86% Steam users will be outraged!

v405gaw.png


Now, talking seriously. If you're 15 years old OS levels of poverty, Steam shouldn't be one of your priorities to bother in life.
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kicker said:
Yeah, they should just let people use the old version but not let them connect tl the internet, if possible. But, eh

Valve publishes their software and hardware stats, and based on the below
BCbH2pv.jpg


It seems like roughly 2% of steam users are still using windows 7/8. And since the last milestone for concurrwnt steam users was something like 31,000,000, it seems that around 500 - 600k people will be affected.
Shame for them
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So about 443,300 are still using Windows 7 64bit, 105,400 people are still using Windows 8.1 and 27,900 people are still using Windows 7 32bit. 7 64 bit I could understand but who are these 105K people using Windows 8.1 still? Even worse the 27.9K people using a 32bit OS. Most games now a days wouldn't even run on that, even with good hardware. It's time to upgrade or find a work around if money is an issue.
 
Three said:
How would valve get hacked or are you saying valve would get sued for the users PC getting hacked? I don't think either is plausible to be honest.

They should just stop updated client support and keep your previous games downloadable on older versions of the client for those who want to remain on older windows.
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IDK how but MS dropped support for those windows versions, any kind of vulnerability can be exploited by anyone if found, Valve just don't want to deal with unsupported system issues
 
rofif said:
Meaning it will still work. They just don't guarantee it will work well.
I don't see how you are not on windows 10/11 if you are 4real about pc gaming though
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Same, I work with someone who goes on a bizarre tirades about staying on 7 and it's bizarre to say the least.
 
tkscz said:
So about 443,300 are still using Windows 7 64bit, 105,400 people are still using Windows 8.1 and 27,900 people are still using Windows 7 32bit. 7 64 bit I could understand but who are these 105K people using Windows 8.1 still? Even worse the 27.9K people using a 32bit OS. Most games now a days wouldn't even run on that, even with good hardware. It's time to upgrade or find a work around if money is an issue.
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I don't understand why these kinds of people just won't use a linux distro, there's no gaming outside of kernel level stuff that you can't play. I migrated back to 11 after using linux for a few years strictly because I wanna multiplayer game and I refuse to pay Sony 60 dollars a year to do so.
 
I don't like the dumb fuck "just move on" arguments because they are straight up dumb. I'm not saying that Valve is in the wrong here, but I get why people are upset.

That being said, Valve should hurry up and release an official version of their Steam OS for the general public... I know that the greatest issue right now is Drivers(specially Nvidia) but they should really should try to push for it, specially now that a lot of people with older hardware won't be safe using win 7 anymore.
 
End of an era. Win 7, the GOAT of Windows OS'.

If any of you here are still on these platforms, I'd suggest exploring or at least dual booting Linux Kubuntu or Mint, right before you jump to Win 11.
 
DemonGamerTTT said:
I don't like the dumb fuck "just move on" arguments because they are straight up dumb. I'm not saying that Valve is in the wrong here, but I get why people are upset.

That being said, Valve should hurry up and release an official version of their Steam OS for the general public... I know that the greatest issue right now is Drivers(specially Nvidia) but they should really should try to push for it, specially now that a lot of people with older hardware won't be safe using win 7 anymore.
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Microsoft stopped supporting them why would valve need to?

Windows 11 is perfectly fine..the whole crying about windows 11 thing is a dumb fuck argument too. You people dont know a bad OS if you didnt live through Windows ME or 8
 
This is so stupid. The only thing that should determine if a game can run or not on my PC is the game requirements, not the store requirements.

Although I must admit it's more impressive how happy some of you are to having more limitations on using products you already paid for. Don't be ignorant people, this measure is only cost cutting valves work, you will get nothing out of it.
 
Steam offline mode has no time limit, no "connect every X days to continue playing" scenario like others have.

If you want to stick with Windows 7, just put Steam into offline mode before January 1st then either go offline completely (the safest method) or use your hosts file to block Steam's servers specifically.

That way, you'll be able to keep launching Steam in offline mode, and it'll never update to an incompatible version. You'll be able to keep playing any games you previously downloaded. You won't be able to download new games, use Steam's social features, get game updates, use Steam Cloud functionality, etc., but you'll still be able to play your games on precious Windows 7.

If you back up your Steam folders properly (like to an external hard drive or something), you'll be able to restore this offline mode easily in the future if it breaks for any reason or somehow accidentally updates to the newest client.

The only downside presently is that this will technically only work until January 19th, 2038. For reasons.
 
dorkimoe said:
Microsoft stopped supporting them why would valve need to?

Windows 11 is perfectly fine..the whole crying about windows 11 thing is a dumb fuck argument too. You people dont know a bad OS if you didnt live through Windows ME or 8
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Dude I never said Valve should support shit.

I just started that the "just accept it in your ass bruh" crowd are the worst because they for some reason don't want to allow other people to have an opinion.

Windows is shit but is a necessary evil until Linux starts to really getting traction, I firmly believe that will happen if Valve fix the issue with Nvidia drivers and release steam os 3 officially.
 
DemonGamerTTT said:
Windows is shit but is a necessary evil until Linux starts to really getting traction, I firmly believe that will happen if Valve fix the issue with Nvidia drivers and release steam os 3 officially.
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How is it a necessary evil? Most steam games are playable on proton.

The issue with Nvidia drivers is that they're not open source and the proprietary drivers suck. So long as this is the case linux gaming will never be mainstream as a hassle free experience is (ironically) exclusive to AMD and Intel
 
Well, this just gives me another reason never to spend a dime on steam.

[RANT]

Oh, I was waiting for the opportunity to post this, I might as well do it here.

I'm ok with them eventually shutting down support. (I'm not ok with them designing shitty draconian UIs and filling them with consumer-unfriendly shit)

But I'm definitely very pissed off at this, which came with an "important" update I installed a few days ago:
WINDOWSMERDA2.jpg


Not even the option to "NO! Go away forever you piece of shit" which is a recent cancerous trend that makes my blood boil like very few other things. Had to go through hoops to uninstall those updates... and the .exe still stayed on my PC. More hoops to set permissions to delete it.

It's infuriating.
Please Linux, become good & easy soon.
 
Fuz said:
Please Linux, become good & easy soon.
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stop acting like it isnt, it is. It's harder to learn than windows but still very user friendly. The steam deck being compatible with everything thrown at it is proof.

You can keep making excuses and dealing with MS's bs or you can just learn it and be done with it forever. Your choice bro
 
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64bitmodels said:
How is it a necessary evil? Most steam games are playable on proton.

The issue with Nvidia drivers is that they're not open source and the proprietary drivers suck. So long as this is the case linux gaming will never be mainstream as a hassle free experience is (ironically) exclusive to AMD and Intel
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It's the only way to proper play all the games.

Even if proton can run most games there are still some problems with the Anti Cheat and drivers for Nvidia.

But if Linux really start traction Nvidia will have the incentive to proper update their linux drivers like they do for windows.

Steam OS can lead the change, but it need to gett started in the desktop environment officially.
 
DemonGamerTTT said:
Steam OS can lead the change, but it need to gett started in the desktop environment officially.
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it also needs to be more advertised and well known... what good does steamos being released do if no one knows or cares about it?

most people are fine with windows too, steamOS needs to find a way to set itself apart. Fringe/niche areas like GAF will switch in a heartbeat but the majority of Win10/11 users don't really know why they should use SteamOS over Windows

(btw there is already an official image for steamos https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown)
 
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This is more to do with Google pulling support for Windows 7/8 rather than Steam as the steam client is buit on Chome. Personally I wish they had used the Firefox Gecko codebase instead of Chrome as Mozilla is better when it comes to long term support.
Also remember that one of the Windows 10 updates broke a lot of older games as they removed SecuROM support that a lot of older games relied on, if they are still enjoying those games then Windows 10 is not a good upgrade option (unless they use the original Windows 10 LTSB which buys them time until 2025 when that loses support)
The very least Steam should do what GOG does and provide a way to download older games through a third party browser, or introduce a legacy Steam client that features no browser or store and can only be used to launch games. I'd wager a lot of remaining Windows 7/8 users on Steam are simply users that have a spare old/retro PC which they use for older games.
 
64bitmodels said:
it also needs to be more advertised and well known... what good does steamos being released do if no one knows or cares about it?

most people are fine with windows too, steamOS needs to find a way to set itself apart. Fringe/niche areas like GAF will switch in a heartbeat but the majority of Win10/11 users don't really know why they should use SteamOS over Windows

(btw there is already an official image for steamos https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown)
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I think that the next year will be huge for steam OS because of the bullshit requirements Windows 11marking a lot of people not able to upgrade...

Some people just play free to play + light stuff(specially outside US and EU) and they won't just upgrade their hardware that already run their games with good fps because M$ decided to.

That's the window where steam OS can be really advertised as good Windows Alternative.

But it need some work first.
 
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