Steam Client ends Windows 7-8.1 on 1/1/24

[Brian Boru]

I just got this message in a Steam Client update:

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

 

[Colif]

That is a bit rough. What about people who play old games on older PC. Not every PC can or should run windows 10.

I know 7 not supported by windows anymore but I wonder what changes they want to make in client to exclude older OS.

 

[Brian Boru]

What about people who play old games on older PC

I expect journos will dig into this for more info, but maybe there is or will be a way to stop your client being updated.

Or maybe it'll still work via Galaxy or Playnite, dunno.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

It was reported a month ago. Something to do with embedded chrome.

Game over: Steam won’t run on Windows 7 or 8 after January 1, 2024

Windows 7 still runs on more Steam PCs than every version of Linux combined.

arstechnica.com

Steam will ditch Windows 7 and 8 support next year

You can blame Google Chrome.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Colif]

MIcrosoft: Just buy a new computer that supports win 11. They probably mean a laptop since most of their advertising for OS seems to assume we all use laptops now.

Why does steam need a browser built into it?
why does AMD Drivers have a browser built in?
It seems you not allowed out of the gardens

 

[ZedClampet]

I thought the Steam app was actually a custom browser. Maybe it's built off of Chromium?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

From the Ars article:

The main culprit, according to Valve, is the built-in Chromium-based browser that Steam actually uses to render the Steam store and other bits of the UI. Chrome dropped support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 right around the same time that Microsoft ended support for the operating systems earlier this year. Versions that still work in Windows 7 and 8 will be susceptible to security bugs and, increasingly, rendering bugs and other functional problems as time goes on.

 

[Sarafan]

In my opinion everything finally comes to an end. It's not a major problem. Most of the older games can be run without any problems on Windows 10 and 11. If not, you can always use dgVoodoo 2, DxWnd or something similar. People who have legacy hardware rarely use Windows 7 anyway. They stick to Windows XP or something older which doesn't run Steam anymore for years.

 

[Brian Boru]

Most of the older games can be run without any problems on Windows 10 and 11

For what it's worth, when I moved from Win7 to Win10, two old programs which wouldn't run on 7 did run on 10—the original Royal Envoy game, and a calendar app I've had for ~20 years.

I haven't moved to 11 yet, but 10 is very good for backwards compatibility.

 

[Sarafan]

I haven't moved to 11 yet, but 10 is very good for backwards compatibility.

There were some problems with older applications compatibility on Windows 10 when it was first released. Things improved greatly in the following updates. From my experience, every old game that runs on Windows 10, runs also on Windows 11, so there's barely any reason not to switch, if your hardware supports TPM 2.0 and SecureBoot that is. For really old titles DOSBox is necessary in both cases and the compatibility settings built in the system work identically as in Windows 10.

 

[Zloth]

That is a bit rough. What about people who play old games on older PC. Not every PC can or should run windows 10.

They need to consider getting off the internet. Seriously. 7 doesn't get security updates now, so their machine will slowly become an open server for everyone on the planet. I'm sorry for people who can't afford to upgrade, but there are very well funded criminals and governments out there who can and will use their computers to destroy not just the out of date computers, but even the owners' friends and relatives.

MIcrosoft: Just buy a new computer that supports win 11. They probably mean a laptop since most of their advertising for OS seems to assume we all use laptops now.

People that buy desktops know too much to advertise at.

Why does steam need a browser built into it?

It vastly lowers the number of updates needed. The client part has better access to the OS and is easier to program, but Valve has to push out a new version to everyone to change anything (including rolling back bad changes). For the web parts, they just change the web pages on their own server - it takes a couple of minutes for everyone to see the changes.

They could set up the normal program part to read from databases on the Valve servers to dynamically create all the various content - but then they have essentially re-invented their own browser software.

I thought the Steam app was actually a custom browser. Maybe it's built off of Chromium?

I'm pretty sure it's both. The outer parts of the Steam client GUI are built off a normal program (in C++?), the inner part in a web browser control.

The old browser is definitely VERY old. For instance, we're supposed to be able to link to YouTube videos to add them to the Videos section for a game. We haven't been able to do that in the Steam client for years, though, because the client's browser control is so old that YouTube refuses to give it the time of day.

P.S. I wonder if this means that the Beta that recently came out won't be releasing until Jan 1 2024?

 

[Colif]

Windows 12 might be next year... apart from TPM, the only big changes between 10 and 11 are the UI. And I still forget I am on 11.
12 might actually expect you to turn Secure Boot on. 11 just requires PC to be able to turn it on. Baby steps.
I have heard other changes in 12 that make me think I might just stay on 11.
OS hardly change between versions, they just massage what it looks like.

 

[Brian Boru]

OS hardly change between versions

I expect the main changes going forward will be keeping up with the security arms race. The general OS is in decent shape.

Windows is becoming less important for MS as a revenue driver, I guess they see it as a platform to put revenue drivers on, like Office and games.