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Steam no longer supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 (www.neowin.net)

submitted 2 years ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Steam no longer supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1::Customers sticking to the good-old (and dead) Windows 7 now have one more reason to ditch the operating system: as of January 1, 2024, Steam no longer supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.

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[-] candyman337@sh.itjust.works 110 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Not really Steam's fault, their app is built in a chromium browser, which stopped supporting those OSes a few years ago. A perfect example of Google having too much control over the Internet. This is what happens when big companies are allowed to purchase their competitors.

Edit: people in this thread are either really forgetting how much trust google used to have with basically the entire Internet. They were seen as the "good guys" for a long time.

Or they're forgetting how unique and revolutionary chromium based desktop apps were when they first came out. It is a colossal pain in the ass to create a modern browser, if you have a web page in your desktop app like steam does, it quickly became a very difficult, time consuming, and virtually fruitless endeavor to develop a headless browser just to sit within your desktop app when you could just go with chromium.

[-] thehatfox@lemmy.world 34 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Google (or any other browser vendor) never forced anyone to rely on a web browser engine to develop desktop applications.

This is what happens when developers make trade-offs for convenience at the expense of control.

Also in Steams’s case the pre-Windows 10 Steam user base is also tiny, and may not be considered commercially viable to support regardless.

[-] candyman337@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 years ago

No they never forced them but they said "hey here's this really awesome sandboxed platform that runs on almost any os, and it's a modern browser!" That's really enticing to a platform like steam where most of their app is web based. Steam isn't a desktop application, it's a hybrid application that needs a web browser. Do you know how hard it is to upkeep a modern browser? There's a reason it's pretty much only chromium and Mozilla making browsers. It's not laziness, it made sense, and Google was the only one making anything like that at the time for developers to use.

Once Google had the market share, they started making changes that they knew would affect everyone using their platform, and that's how they wanted it.

[-] LWD@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 33 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

And if memory serves me right, Microsoft is dropping W7, 8, and 8.1 support this year too. I love to shit on Google, but I also love to shit on Microsoft.

Especially since W10 EOL is on the horizon.

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[-] Disposable_User@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Yeah, right… it’s my fault that Valve decided to use Chromium crap in their client.
Fanboys don’t even question themselves if it didn’t made sense to have a lite version of the client without the browser, you know, to play games! (͡•_ ͡• )

[-] candyman337@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 years ago

Never said it was your fault, I explicitly said it was Google's doing but ok be mad if you want to

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[-] spudwart@spudwart.com 26 points 2 years ago

Linux

[-] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 2 years ago

It uses Chromium on Linux too. It uses DRM on Linux too.

The real answer is GoG.

[-] LainOfTheWired@lemy.lol 5 points 2 years ago

Honesty for a lot of older games gog is the answer. A lot of older games just don't run well or at all on proton.

Though you could also just get an old console to play them on and never worry about updates breaking things again.

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[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago

It is ridiculous that Steam won't let you play your games you payed for outside of steam. Games that you've played for years on Windows 7 suddenly no longer play. Steam is like a DRM system that suddenly stops working and makes all the stuff you bought worthless.

[+] LiveLGNProsper@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Would you rather that?

I would rather Steam let me play all my games I legally purchased on Windows 7 outside of steam. If Steam is not going to work on Windows 7 than stay the hell out of the way and let me play the games I bought and have installed on my computer.

I hope somebody sues them for stealing their purchased games.

[-] kescusay@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago

This isn't Steam's fault. The OS is dead because Microsoft killed it (as part of their ongoing planned-obsolescence operating system program). There is no conceivable way Steam can maintain security for anyone's account on an OS that hasn't received security updates for three years.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Nothing unusual about cutting the cord at some point when major updates introduce big enough differences that it becomes a pain to make sure things stay compatible. Same thing happen with any OS.

I swear some people around here must be mad that Microsoft doesn't release Windows 98 updates anymore...

[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Microsoft doesn't stop you from playing the games that already ran on your Windows 98 computer either. False equivelance.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Then don't buy your games on Steam if you don't like the way they do business, you've got other options, vote with your wallet and only buy DRM free games.

You still wouldn't be able to play those Windows 98 games if they were bought on Steam, because they've stopped supporting that OS ages ago and for good reasons. It doesn't support modern tech, it doesn't receive security updates, there's no point wasting money on supporting it, just like there's no point wasting money on supporting an OS that hasn't received a security update in close to a year and that less than 2% of users are using until they finally move on to the next version.

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[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

There is no conceivable way Steam can maintain security for anyone's account

Then they need to drop the DRM nonsense and let people use their desktop applications/games that they purchased.

It IS Steam's fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down. Who else's fault would it be?

It's not Google's fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down.

It's not Microsoft's fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down.

It's not Windows 7/8 user's fault that Steam forces people to use a DRM system which they then shut down.

I can play GOG games without using GOG. The least that Steam can do is created a lightweight app that let's users play the games that they have already installed on their computer. Forget about "security" and "accounts". Just don't get in the way of users running their own games on their own computers.

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[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 years ago

Are you running an OS that hasn't received a security update in a year (if you purchase the ESU packages)???

Dude, at least move on to Windows 10 or something, that's just you taking bad decisions at this point.

[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I like Windows 7 precisely because I still have complete control over my computer. Microsoft cannot brick my computer on a whim like they have the power to with later versions of windows.

[-] Hyrulian@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago

I feel like this group of people are the kind that would already be on Linux though. If you're that anti Microsoft why be on any version of Windows when such a great suitable replacement that also still works on these older systems exists?

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[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

"brick my computer on a whim"

Paranoid much?

It's funny that you fear Microsoft but not all the people that can exploit all the flaws that are now left open in your computer because you haven't received a single security update in 357 days (or more since the last three years were paid updates).

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[-] Disposable_User@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

You’re right with what you said except for Steam is not like DRM. Steam is DRM!
People will defend Valve with tooth and nails, but like every other digital system, one day it will fuck with their users (my guess is when Gabe Newell retires).
I can barely wait for that day, to see thousands of posts of users crying, because they never purchased anything, only rented! ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

[-] thehatfox@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

Plenty of people hated Steam when it first came out, it was a controversial thing when games started to require it.

Steam has only become as popular as it is because Valve responded to much of that criticism, and improved it enough to become “acceptable” DRM in the minds of most gamers. People defend it because it came to work (mostly) seamlessly and offer additional beneficial features. Unlike many other far jankier platforms/launchers which have been developed with minimum effort as more transparent cash grabs.

A DRM free world be be ideal, but we rarely get an ideal world, so people settle for the least worst instead.

[-] HeyLow 6 points 2 years ago

Yeah I don't blame valve for Microsoft dropping security updates and neglecting the last good version of windows. I've switched to Linux where this will never happen.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

It's a Chromium issue, not a Windows issue.

[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

It's a DRM issue. Not a Chromium issue, or a Window's issue. What happens when Steam goes out of business after a corporate takeover and NOBODY WILL EVER BE ABLE TO PLAY ANY OF THEIR STEAM GAMES AGAIN.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

You're talking about a different subject.

The reason why Steam is dropping support for W7/8 is a Chromium issue.

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[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 years ago

We're a GoG-first house, here.

I get that steam dropping win7 was unavoidable based on their shitty choice of browser base, but the alternative was only Firefox and we know how Mozilla-the-app went.

Anyway, GoG gives us control over our purchased copies, and I like that.

[-] thehatfox@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

There was a time when software didn’t need an entire browser engine to run. We used to call them native applications.

Although looking at how small the pre-Windows 10 customer base is I imagine Valve would have considered it not commercially viable to continue supporting however easy maintaining the codebase was.

[-] Disposable_User@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

But, how about my funny and stupid reviews on the store page, and my useless badges and cards? /s

[-] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago

Why pay for DRM when there's a legal, user-friendly alternative? GoG is the best. Proof that we can still have nice things.

I don't go as far as to boycott Steam, but GoG is my first choice.

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[-] n3cr0@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

I bet, we don't find a single Windows 8 user who uses Steam on that system. Similar applies to Win7.

[-] toddestan@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Not anymore since it no longer works.

I was still using Steam on Windows 7 as late as last month. Losing access to Steam was one motivation to finally upgrade my computer.

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[-] EddyBot@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

I'm not sure why people blame mostly Google for this
Microsoft stopped supporting them long time ago first, in case of Windows 7 it's almost 4 years now

[-] Kevin11@lemdro.id 4 points 2 years ago

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My setup (it has been destroyed by Gabe)

[-] wax@lemmy.wtf 3 points 2 years ago

*Google

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this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024

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