PC gamers will finally lose support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 thanks to Valve dropping them
PC gamers, it's time to ring in the new year by finally retiring that old Windows operating system. Valve announced in an official blog post that Steam would no longer support Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 after January 1, 2024.
According to the official Steam blog post, current Steam Client installations on said operating systems will no longer receive updates, including security updates, after that date. Steam will also no longer provide technical support or guarantee Steam functionality after that date.
According to the latter Steam Hardware Researchonly about 0.89% of Steam users still have Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 installed, which is about the same number as those with Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics cards. Not an insignificant amount considering there are 31 million online Steam users, but it's still a fairly small population, so the discontinued support makes sense on that front.
Valve recommended that users update their operating systems because “the core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome” and that “future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates that are only present in Windows 10 and later.” The message also mentions common security risks associated with keeping these operating systems installed without the appropriate security updates to address them. This is good advice, as Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 in 2020 and Windows 8.1 in 2023.
Microsoft ending OS support could spell disaster
Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 aren't the only ones being booted by Microsoft, as the tech giant plans to end support for Windows 10 in 2025.
Not only does this ensure that a significant number of users no longer use an unsupported operating system, but as analyst firm Canalys puts it: could cause an environmental disaster. This is because current Windows 10 laptops do not meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11, meaning these laptops are unlikely to be recycled. That's an estimated 240 million PCs becoming electronic waste.
Users have the option to do this pay for long-term supportmuch like Windows 7 before it, but that only extended its lifespan by three years and saw rising costs every year for paying users.
It remains to be seen how Microsoft will deal with this potential catastrophe, especially as the company seems to have become more proactive in recent years regarding durable and easily repairable hardware, as well as other environmental issues.