Steam will stop supporting Windows 7 and 8 in 2024.

[Ash]

The next step is we're forced to use Windows 11.



The DRM should be null and void if Valve can no longer support people's choice of OS.

 

[catfood]

This right here's precisely the sort of attitude that got us into this shit where we no longer "purchase" a copy of a software package for own use, but instead "license" it at the provider's whims and when stuff changes under our ass, we're "not even forced to use it, bro."

You have the right to use an old OS, but you don't have the right to force third-party vendors to continue to support it indefinitely.

I don't expect Microsoft to keep giving me free updates past its lifecycle, but I also don't want some mandatory update to turn into something other than what it was when I paid for it.

To extrapolate from that, I don't expect Newell to keep supporting our continued business on a deprecated OS outside of his company's control, but I would want him to supply a technical solution for users to retain access to the products he's already sold them such as they were at the time he sold them. For instance in this case, some barebones Windows 7 client that'd just allow the games to run. No cloud features, no updates, just here it is, either let users download or backup their products and then run them.

More generally, the point is that all notions of ownership, consumer protection and fair business practices are being eroded at an alarming rate in this magnificent modern world of ours, and everything IT-related is leading the fucking charge. If our lawmakers had the slightest bit of backbone and inclination towards the public interest, mandatory updates would be out the fucking window and providers would have to supply customers with the ability to retain personal use copies of their existing software if the provider discontinued support or (this being another can of worms in dire need of attention) chose to update their terms post-acquisition.

You will own nothing and you will be happy, goy.

 

[Rosey]

Why would you pay money for a shit OS when better ones are free? To play the hottest new AAA titles?

This right here's precisely the sort of attitude that got us into this shit where we no longer "purchase" a copy of a software package for own use, but instead "license" it at the provider's whims and when stuff changes under our ass, we're "not even forced to use it, bro."

You have the right to use an old OS, but you don't have the right to force third-party vendors to continue to support it indefinitely.

Sure, sure. Just like it's private companies' business what they're doing with their platforms. And the vaccination was completely voluntary and no one was coerced to take it.
Same principle.

Nobody can force you to do anything. If they make it impossible to buy games then; the Empress protects. If your work tells you to get vaccinated just use gimp to change a screenshot verifying it for someone else to your name and show that to your boss. If you're injected with zerg particles or get cucked by microsoft that's all your own fault tbh famalam

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

You all care far too much about insignificant shit

 

[Tweed]

WTF Steam doesn't run on my Altair 8800 anymore!

 

[jebsmoker]

if you're still on 7 and you're concerned about 10 spying on you, get comfortable with performing OS surgery in regedit. you can disable some of it in Control Panel, but you'll have to do a bit more in regedit if you're concerned about telemetry and data gathering

if you don't wanna give Gates your money, get a key from a key reseller and just nab the ISO file from the Microsoft site lmao

 

[mastroego]

I would welcome suggestions/links for an easy way to do that kind of "surgery"
So far I've disabled things that were easy to disable

 

[jebsmoker]

well, you can get rid of cortana by following the instructions in this. windows 10's integrity restoration feature won't really care about this:

https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10

 

[Darth Roxor]

People who say 'zumg no one has the obligation to support ur windows 95 forever' don't see the real issue here. It's obviously true that software which is still in use doesn't need to stay compatible with old shit, but do you really see no problem in how you'll now be forced to update your windows to play, say, Max Payne and Dark Forces?

Bonus points if a large number of those old games sold by Steam stop working on W10+.

We're finally getting caught up with what most people were saying 15 years ago. That Steam can potentially fuck with you at whatever stage and bar you from your games library that you put lots of cash into, and you'll be able to do nothing about it.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

I would welcome suggestions/links for an easy way to do that kind of "surgery"
So far I've disabled things that were easy to disable

If you look into disabling bloatware and telemetry for Win10/11 on YouTube, you'll see a lot of people linking to a fairly common tool that does much of it for you.
These three video tutorials seem pretty straightforward.






Now, I haven't ever used these before, but it is what I've decided to do as soon as my important shit is all transferred to my flash drive, exercise due prudence obviously. In my case, I'm probably going to keep Paint, Calculator, Notepad, perhaps even Skype. I'll probably Google all the rest just to be certain.

 

[jebsmoker]

yes, this will shaft people who have put money into games on Steam, and this will probably motivate people to make a work-around for people who still want to stick to 7

 

[Ryzer]

Waiting for the moment when they decide Steam Deck 1 won't work anymore and you have to buy the new one to keep playing the games you bought.

So just like what Nintendo did with the DS and the 3DS by shutting down the E-Shop?

 

[Black_Willow]

People who say 'zumg no one has the obligation to support ur windows 95 forever' don't see the real issue here. It's obviously true that software which is still in use doesn't need to stay compatible with old shit, but do you really see no problem in how you'll now be forced to update your windows to play, say, Max Payne and Dark Forces?

Bonus points if a large number of those old games sold by Steam stop working on W10+.

We're finally getting caught up with what most people were saying 15 years ago. That Steam can potentially fuck with you at whatever stage and bar you from your games library that you put lots of cash into, and you'll be able to do nothing about it.

People buy old games on Steam?
Guys, Steam is for buying stuff which isn't available on GOG or is super-cheap on a sale (or some games to play online, which have bigger community than on GOG).

 

[Tacgnol]

Waiting for the moment when they decide Steam Deck 1 won't work anymore and you have to buy the new one to keep playing the games you bought.

If that happened, couldn't you just replace the OS on the Steam Deck?

 

[Darth Roxor]

People who say 'zumg no one has the obligation to support ur windows 95 forever' don't see the real issue here. It's obviously true that software which is still in use doesn't need to stay compatible with old shit, but do you really see no problem in how you'll now be forced to update your windows to play, say, Max Payne and Dark Forces?

Bonus points if a large number of those old games sold by Steam stop working on W10+.

We're finally getting caught up with what most people were saying 15 years ago. That Steam can potentially fuck with you at whatever stage and bar you from your games library that you put lots of cash into, and you'll be able to do nothing about it.

People buy old games on Steam?
Guys, Steam is for buying stuff which isn't available on GOG or is super-cheap on a sale (or some games to play online, which have bigger community than on GOG).

then find me max payne on zog, asshole

also once again missing the point

 

[Black_Willow]

People who say 'zumg no one has the obligation to support ur windows 95 forever' don't see the real issue here. It's obviously true that software which is still in use doesn't need to stay compatible with old shit, but do you really see no problem in how you'll now be forced to update your windows to play, say, Max Payne and Dark Forces?

Bonus points if a large number of those old games sold by Steam stop working on W10+.

We're finally getting caught up with what most people were saying 15 years ago. That Steam can potentially fuck with you at whatever stage and bar you from your games library that you put lots of cash into, and you'll be able to do nothing about it.

People buy old games on Steam?
Guys, Steam is for buying stuff which isn't available on GOG or is super-cheap on a sale (or some games to play online, which have bigger community than on GOG).

then find me max payne on zog, asshole

also once again missing the point

You should already own an old pirated copy translated by Ruskies, with such lines as "twoje wrogi znikli w cieniu".
Sir, your potato card is revoked!

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Yeah, quite a few officially distributed old titles don't run on win 10+ or "run" after 3rd party workarounds and with different results. That's precisely why I keep an old ass win7 laptop and use it to play old games (also because it has an actual vga port). So this shit's down to whether "not supporting" means "no updates" or just plain not working.

 

[Nutmeg]

Piracy is good.

Liberate software from the capitalist distribution monopoly enforcing scum! The robbers of the intellectual labor. The parasite lawyers and the shop keepers.

 

[SlamDunk]

As it turns out, the licensing concept is crap. And pirates are the ones who actually preserve games for future generations, removing DRM and just giving you the software with a bit of extra, such as undetectable malicious software.

Altered to represent truth. Having said that, I acknowledge the fact that Windows itself can also be considered as being malicious software.

Piracy is good.

It depends. If you pirate everything, including games that do not benefit capitalists (or any other greedy bastard), you are part of the problemn.

 

[taxalot]

You can't have freedom without lawyers and/or taxmen.

 

[Modron]

Piracy is good.

Liberate software from the capitalist distribution monopoly enforcing scum! The robbers of the intellectual labor. The parasite lawyers and the shop keepers.

Amen brother then we will take down the biggest parasites of them all landlords.

 

[Tacgnol]

Piracy is good.

Liberate software from the capitalist distribution monopoly enforcing scum! The robbers of the intellectual labor. The parasite lawyers and the shop keepers.

Amen brother then we will take down the biggest parasites of them all landlords.

Nutmeg (who apparently agrees considering he brofisted your post):

 

[janior]

some dumdum linux distro is the answer for the windows7 caveman imo, wine often runs those old titles better than windows and steam won't stop supporting l00nix in the foreseeable future

 

[JarlFrank]

It depends. If you pirate everything, including games that do not benefit capitalists (or any other greedy bastard), you are part of the problemn.

I'm an indie author and may or may not have contributed work to undisclosed indie video games made by tiny teams of fewer than 10 people, and I fully support people pirating my shit.

Piracy makes sure it lives on, much more so than any official channel of purchase does.

Do I get money when people pirate my stuff? No. Do I lose money when they do? Also no, because the whole "1 pirated copy = 1 lost sale" concept is bullshit we all know has no connection to reality.
Some people pirate everything, like a Romanian pal of mine who doesn't buy games or films or music, he just pirates. If he pirates something it's not a lost sale since he wouldn't have bought it anyway. But it means one more person gets to read/play my stuff, and preserve it on his local PC, completely divorced from any DRM that might be attached to it.

Crackers are doing incredibly important jobs with obscure indie games, too. There are some ancient indie games from the late 90s and early 00s that use super weird DRM schemes with activation shenanigans, but the developer has long stopped selling them and just disappeared from the net. So if you didn't activate the game 20 years ago, all you can get your hands on now are unregistered trial versions.

Pirates fix that. Pirates preserve. Without them, a lot of media would be lost to time.

They are heroes, and I will never think ill of them.

 

[Justinian]

If you don't wanna give Gates your money, get a key from a key reseller and just nab the ISO file from the Microsoft site lmao

You should do this regardless of Gates. Why pay +$100 when you can get it for 20-30 bucks.