Windows 7/8 users being shafted by Steam policy

[nitramyar.rm]

I have just seen the notification that Steam will cease operating on Windows 7 and 8 after January 2024. This, in my opinion, is an absolutely disgusting way to treat many, many Steam users. Like countless others, I decided long ago that the Windows, especially 10 and onwards, had become resource hungry bloatware that is more interested in spying on users than providing a stable OS.
I have contentedly used Windows 7 for years with no problems, and to sell out your users like this in the name of "security" considerations is just garbage. Just yesterday I purchased a new game, that will now apparently be useless in eight months. I don't have the option to simply upgrade as you people so arrogantly suggest, since I am a retiree who cannot afford a new overpriced OS, as well as a new PC that will run it.
Will Steam be refunding the full price of all the software that I (and hundreds of thousand of others) have purchased, that will soon be arbitrarily snatched away? You are telling us that software we have purchased with hard earned money, that resides on our computers, will cease to function simply because you have made an executive decision to make a deliberate change to cause such a thing. That is what I would call theft.

[Mr. McGoohan]

引用自 Karumati：

Win 7-8 has less than 2% users

And I imagine furry fetishists are less than 2% of the population yet here we are

[Kairu]

didn't I post in this thread? did my post get deleted? was it too yohoho? I was only speaking in the theoretical.. criminy.

[killall]

i was the win 7 user, please dont stop steam on windows 7 please!

[Vertigo]

fascinating that people now learn out of the blue, that software isn't supported indefinitly.

Why can't I use Dos to play my Steam games?
Win 3.11?
Kickstart 1.3?

[Wai]

I have a perfectly good computer running Windows 7. It runs everything I need beautifully. I cannot afford to buy a new system, my pension will not support it. My hardware cannot be upgraded to run Windows 11 either. Windows 10 is utter, unmitigated effluvium.

So, thank you Steam - in just a few months I will have no access to my games. My hobby is gone and my investment in games is also gone.

This is theft - pure and simple. Disgusting!

[Vertigo]

引用自 Wai：

I have a perfectly good computer running Windows 7. It runs everything I need beautifully. I cannot afford to buy a new system, my pension will not support it. My hardware cannot be upgraded to run Windows 11 either. Windows 10 is utter, unmitigated effluvium.

So, thank you Steam - in just a few months I will have no access to my games. My hobby is gone and my investment in games is also gone.

This is theft - pure and simple. Disgusting!

So you won't use Win 10, what you could do.
You could use Linux.
You could get a very cheap 2. hand PC that could run Win 11.

What will you do If your PC inevitably will break?

[N3tRunn3r]

So far anyone can upgrade their machine to Windows 10 for free and easily. If you download and upgrade now, your Windows 10[www.microsoft.com] machine will be ready in less than 40 minutes.

You have a few years left until official Microsoft support for Windows 10 ends and so to need to switch to Windows 11... do you?

No.. Whenever Steam stops support for Windows 10, you have hella time.. maybe 10 years from today on.. you dont need to buy a new PC. Windows 10 works on ANY PC/Notebook.. and so Steam.. and in 10 years you are again warned that Steam stops Windows 10 support.

You literally have 10 years of time to collect money for a "fictional" rig.. until Steam ends support for Windows 10.. same stuff as you do with Windows 7 currently.

[retro_Ed]

STEP 1
Get a 8GB USB Flash Drive

STEP 2
Install Balena Etcher

STEP 3
Download Pop!_OS
https://pop.system76.com/

STEP 4
Using Balena Etcher, make bootable USB drive.

Now you have fully functional OS on your USB drive.
You can use it straight booting from BIOS. Your current OS will be untouched.

Test how your hardware is working, wifi etc. Learn it to use.
(...there is not much to learn. It is easy.)

Enjoy. At least you have a working OS in your pocket. And no extra costs.

[N3tRunn3r]

No 3rd-party tools needed to create a bootable USB drive. Windows has all tools included already, through command prompt[learn.microsoft.com].

#[Admin] cmd/ps/terminal:

diskpart
list disk
select disk <X>
clean
(convert gpt||mbr)
create partition primary
list partition
select partition <X>
format fs=fat32||ntfs||exfat quick
assign
active
exit

Format your USB drive like this to make it bootable, put data/media into, ready..

keywords are "primary partition", "fat32" and "active"

if you do something wrong, you format your OS drive.. or at least its tables which could be restored.. xD

I have formatted a single USB drive with 4 partitions. And each of the partitions are bootable with different Windows versions and other OS. A clean multiboot USB drive. A 5th partition automatically converts into exFat, non-bootable but great to store "tools"..

[lightwo]

Here's my contribution to the thread, how Steam can be used beyond deprecation date:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967855237

[N3tRunn3r]

your guide will be lit

[Fjord]

Honestly Microsoft stopped support on Windows 7 and 8 awhile ago so i think this is the right move on steams end tbh. Plus we don't own the games we buy the license that can be revoked at any point in time without a refund.

It is what it is, just upgrade to Windows 10 as the specs to run it are barely anything as well.

[Drox]

Time to start making moves to update your stuff brothers, if money is the issue then start saving. Even mircosoft won't support those older OS's anymore.

[Ducks on Fire]

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
according to this Win7 users are only 1.31% and while that still puts the number of users in the ballpark of 1 million that's not really a lot from a business perspective.

引用自 nitramyar.rm：

I don't have the option to simply upgrade as you people so arrogantly suggest, since I am a retiree who cannot afford a new overpriced OS, as well as a new PC that will run it.

That right there is part of the problem. Some people using Win7 do so because they don't have the money to upgrade. that means that of the 1.31% some of them aren't valuable customers anymore anyway. They aren't going to be buying as many games and certainly aren't going to be buying the expensive AAA titles. And even of the ones that have the money, going forward less games are going to even support Win7 so again those users are less and less valuable.

引用自 nitramyar.rm：

You are telling us that software we have purchased with hard earned money, that resides on our computers, will cease to function simply because you have made an executive decision to make a deliberate change to cause such a thing. That is what I would call theft.

They don't reside on your computer. You download them from Steam's servers. You can download them on any PC that supports Steam. And you can call it theft but legally it is not. Laws (at least in the US) are very much in favor of corporations, but even if they weren't it's hard to see there being a law that requires a company to support the product of another company indefinitely like this. Steam was allowed to drop support for WinXP without any issue so I son't see why now will be any different.

And I get the frustration, I really do, but I don't understand how you especially (given that you say you are retired and so I assume you are older) and people in general don't understand that corporations are not our friends. they DO NOT care about us. We are cows and when we no longer produce milk we are no longer of use.

You are a cow who has probably watched countless cows be discarded without comment because you were still producing milk and so was still being treated nicely. Now you are upset because you aren't giving enough milk and so are going to be discarded yourself and are surprised that the farmer isn't going to spend money to get less milk, nor is going to be compelled by law to do so.

[Melodia]

引用自 󠀡󠀡：

Plus we don't own the games we buy the license that can be revoked at any point in time without a refund.
.

Theoretically it could happen, however legally they have no right to do that in most countries.