End of Life" alert for Windows 7/8/8.1. Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on Jan 1st, 2024 at 10am.

[WolfEisberg]

Valve is ending Windows 7/8/8.1 in 8 months, on Jan 1st 2024. Going by the hardware survey that will affect nearly 3 million customers. If you are on those OS, then plan on moving to Windows 10/11 or Linux if you don't mind less compatibility for your games.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/3684547474477817940

[KoRni]

Автор сообщения: Wahooka

Do we have any legal grounds to demand a refund?

Selling us games that work with Windows 7 and then changing the system requirements to play them years later, is that even allowed?

I think we do, at least here in EU. Will need to make a deeper research on this subject. Here, I can even say I was mislead by the "BUY" button in the Steam store and didn't know I'm just renting - which is true, if this is being read by any Valve lawyer :P

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

Автор сообщения: KoRni

Автор сообщения: ragefifty50

but its windows 7 that cannot keep you as safe as windows 10/11

steam is trying to protect your game playing into the future...


what would you do if your system was hacked because
it was running windows 7 and all your stuff was blocked behind ransomware

Not sure if this is irony, but edited my post to reply for similar ones...

i also just read from another customer here....

in the terms of service steam is covered and we all agreed they could
make any changes they like that may affect what we do....

but getting that refunds is a fun thought...

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

Автор сообщения: ValentB

I can get refunds in form of not buying games I 100% wanted to before. That's what I did with Ubisoft.

so when the 98% of steam users have switched to the next supported OS

why would you even be here...

[Crazy Tiger]

Автор сообщения: Wahooka

Do we have any legal grounds to demand a refund?

Selling us games that work with Windows 7 and then changing the system requirements to play them many years later, so we can no longer play them anymore, is that even allowed?

The thing is that you got sold licenses that are to be used through the Steam launcher, which can change system requirements for its use. And all of that we agreed to per the SSA which we agreed to when creating the Steam account and reagreed to every time we made a purchase on Steam.

So yes, technically it's all allowed. A lot of the laws work with "reasonable expectancy" in that regard. And it's reasonable to expect that an unsupported OS eventually gets dropped by a software program. And as long as the heads up is long enough to give users the time to change their OS, it should be ok.

But if people want to try that out in courts, they're free to try it. Well, not exactly free, as it costs lawyer fees.

Lots of these things are tied in how licensing works. And that isn't always in the advantage of the regular user.

[𝕎𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕫]

That's also a interesting part...

"The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services. To make use of the Content and Services, you must have a Steam Account and you may be required to be running the Steam client and maintaining a connection to the Internet.

For reasons that include, without limitation, system security, stability, and multiplayer interoperability, Valve may need to automatically update, pre-load, create new versions of or otherwise enhance the Content and Services and accordingly, the system requirements to use the Content and Services may change over time.

You consent to such automatic updating. You understand that this Agreement (including applicable Subscription Terms) does not entitle you to future updates (unless to the extent required by applicable law), new versions or other enhancements of the Content and Services associated with a particular Subscription, although Valve may choose to provide such updates, etc. in its sole discretion."

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/english/

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Автор сообщения: Wahooka

Problem is, I already have all my games on this computer which runs Window 7, and I am not able to upgrade right now for a lot of reasons.

Is Steam going to make it impossible for me to run my games anymore once this switch happens?

What if I want to buy new Steam games?

This seems ridiculous, can we protest this?

Don't see why not unless you're lacking storage on your system where can't delete anything, and have no way to add more storage, or can't do any kind of back up for gods know why. The only thing I can think of is using a really old PC that barely able to run W7 in the 1st place, which I can see being a problem going for W10, but at that point may consider going Linux at that point as be ligher than Windows 7.

What happens is that Steam may not run correctly, or just don't run at all, the other thing I notice is that W7 has pretty recent updates to supporting chrome for awhile, but issue comes down to the newest chrome version, now I assume issue be more on getting new version of chrome running, and TBH I think it be possible work around for it that won't be bad as how it is for Windows XP when their support ended, but that just a guess on my part here.

You could get group to start a petition, and make a post in the suggestion forum, asking for extended support, but at some point they will cut it off like all the other OS sadly.

Автор сообщения: Wahooka

Do we have any legal grounds to demand a refund?

Selling us games that work with Windows 7 and then changing the system requirements to play them many years later, so we can no longer play them anymore, is that even allowed?

No, but if you want to make small court claims you're welcome to do that, just like the last 2 other times when an OS support get dropped.

Also yes Steam can update their client, the only thing I can say is a problem is that support get dropped over time, so some of us saw this coming, the other fact we can not force them to support things for life as that not how that works, so either update, or take the L really, and not like you don't have options to do linux, or update to W10 so yeah.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Автор сообщения: DarkCrystalMethod

Its funny that they're blaming a free embedded browser that works everywhere(except on Win8.1 and older) and that those users will have to shell out a minimum $150 just for the home/personal edition of Win10/11 (pro version I think is around $200?) I think the real problem is Windows.
Linux is darn close do doing everything I need it to... just a few more things and Windows will be dead to me.

Ya, Ive been saying that for about ten years myself...

You dont need to activate windows to use it.

[(not) Y2K Compliant]

I own a small IT business. I have worked in the industry for 15+ years. I till use windows 7 on my personal computer as a choice. I have over 500 games in my steam library and refused to use any other platform such as epic or origin because they are bad actors when it comes to software distribution. Steams decision to restrict choice now puts them in the same category as the other platforms i refuse to support by using them. This will not stop me using windows 7 for my personal computer but it will stop me using steam.

[Komarimaru]

Автор сообщения: (not) Y2K Compliant

I own a small IT business. I have worked in the industry for 15+ years. I till use windows 7 on my personal computer as a choice. I have over 500 games in my steam library and refused to use any other platform such as epic or origin because they are bad actors when it comes to software distribution. Steams decision to restrict choice now puts them in the same category as the other platforms i refuse to support by using them. This will not stop me using windows 7 for my personal computer but it will stop me using steam.

There's no way any smart business is using Windows 7 and doing ANY relevant IT work. Only reason you'd have older operating systems and setups, is for testing purposes, not day to day.

Everyone needs to quit these BS lies. The world ditched Windows 7 professionally some time ago. Only those who don't know better and pretend they do, stick do depreciated hardware and software.

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

Автор сообщения: Komarimaru

Only those who don't know better and pretend they do,

This sums up your post nicely.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

there should be some therapy group.... i myself was anxious and hesitant to
upgrade to window 10... i was gonna stay on my window 7 for ever and ever....

and look at me now...new RTX gpu and SSD and coloured lights and and and
i upgraded to win 11 as soon as i could...

i aint looking back.... even got rid of my old epson printer... i can just put
everything on usb and get it printed up for a few cents at the office companies...

come on guys... you can do it.... get into the future.... the future is wind 10 and above...

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Автор сообщения: Komarimaru

Автор сообщения: (not) Y2K Compliant

I own a small IT business. I have worked in the industry for 15+ years. I till use windows 7 on my personal computer as a choice. I have over 500 games in my steam library and refused to use any other platform such as epic or origin because they are bad actors when it comes to software distribution. Steams decision to restrict choice now puts them in the same category as the other platforms i refuse to support by using them. This will not stop me using windows 7 for my personal computer but it will stop me using steam.

There's no way any smart business is using Windows 7 and doing ANY relevant IT work. Only reason you'd have older operating systems and setups, is for testing purposes, not day to day.

Everyone needs to quit these BS lies. The world ditched Windows 7 professionally some time ago. Only those who don't know better and pretend they do, stick do depreciated hardware and software.

I think he meant like those mom & pa shops, or places that can't afford, or choose not to keep their stuff updated, I know there some internet cafes that does that, and old small stores does it.

[(not) Y2K Compliant]

Автор сообщения: Komarimaru

Автор сообщения: (not) Y2K Compliant

I own a small IT business. I have worked in the industry for 15+ years. I till use windows 7 on my personal computer as a choice. I have over 500 games in my steam library and refused to use any other platform such as epic or origin because they are bad actors when it comes to software distribution. Steams decision to restrict choice now puts them in the same category as the other platforms i refuse to support by using them. This will not stop me using windows 7 for my personal computer but it will stop me using steam.

There's no way any smart business is using Windows 7 and doing ANY relevant IT work. Only reason you'd have older operating systems and setups, is for testing purposes, not day to day.

Everyone needs to quit these BS lies. The world ditched Windows 7 professionally some time ago. Only those who don't know better and pretend they do, stick do depreciated hardware and software.

Who are you and why should I care about the opinion of someone who 1) did not bother to READ my post when I said my personal computer and 2) someone in a free society who is in favor of taking away choice from another individual when it causes zero harm and impacts themselves in no possible way?

I work with and on windows 10 and 11 on a daily basis. We do an average of 50-100 jobs a week. Why do you think I have a specific choice when it comes to the operating system I use? I see it no different then a mechanic to services modern cars and has to deal with the constant problems they may have and decides to use a classic and simple car lovingly tended to because the last thing you want to do after working on cars all day is fixing issues on YOUR car.

Oh and on a final note. We often get jobs from medical professionals who still use win7 machines for medical grade hardware because the control software does not have support beyond win7. We get in older ex-government dell and HP SFF desktops with serial ports and win7 driver support and clone the drive to the SSD after using sysprep to the new machines. This week alone we have done two of these jobs for a client.

[Outsider]

There are other ways to play games on PC.
The moment steam stops working on my Win7 I'm just uninstalling it.

[Komarimaru]

Автор сообщения: (not) Y2K Compliant

Автор сообщения: Komarimaru

There's no way any smart business is using Windows 7 and doing ANY relevant IT work. Only reason you'd have older operating systems and setups, is for testing purposes, not day to day.

Everyone needs to quit these BS lies. The world ditched Windows 7 professionally some time ago. Only those who don't know better and pretend they do, stick do depreciated hardware and software.

Who are you and why should I care about the opinion of someone who 1) did not bother to READ my post when I said my personal computer and 2) someone in a free society who is in favor of taking away choice from another individual when it causes zero harm and impacts themselves in no possible way?

I work with and on windows 10 and 11 on a daily basis. We do an average of 50-100 jobs a week. Why do you think I have a specific choice when it comes to the operating system I use? I see it no different then a mechanic to services modern cars and has to deal with the constant problems they may have and decides to use a classic and simple car lovingly tended to because the last thing you want to do after working on cars all day is fixing issues on YOUR car.

Oh and on a final note. We often get jobs from medical professionals who still use win7 machines for medical grade hardware because the control software does not have support beyond win7. We get in older ex-government dell and HP SFF desktops with serial ports and win7 driver support and clone the drive to the SSD after using sysprep to the new machines. This week alone we have done two of these jobs for a client.

Because I find it very hard to believe, a professional, would treat their home system worse than their work system.

And I know that unfortunately you have to take your work home at times, since IT is a diverse term that covers hundreds of unique fields.

The comparison between cars, is a poor choice as well. Yes, new cars are a mess to work on, but when it comes to safety, a mechanic isn't going to suggest a car they tweak and play with, as a daily driver, when it's so old it's missing simple things like seat belts, air bags etc etc.

Either way, I'm happy Steam is finally getting rid of Windows 7 support. GOG has been moving away from it for a while now and Epic will be doing so shortly as well I expect. There's no reason to stick to an operating system so vulnerable, and lacking support for modern features and unable to access modern hardware benefits.