Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8

[exxos]

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/v ... -1321-800A

:mad:

Not that I ever play games much but I do play gas guzzlers from time to time. Which doesn't seem to have a Linux version :roll:

I get steam won't support stuff forever but totally killing the ability to even launch games is just lame imho. It's caused the usual internet arguments.

Frankly I hate steam and game developers for that very reason. I purchased carnage racing years ago and multiplayer no longer works making the game basically unplayable. I paid for a game I can no longer play because the server went offline.

It's why I always default back to UT2004. I've got over 3000 maps and it supports direct IP. No steam and no 3rd parties involved. I own the dvd, I own the game and I can play it with my girlfriend whenever I want.

Not many games interest me but steam took over and made everyone lazy in not having to type the IP address in. MSN gaming zone anyone ?

Back the the point, I'll go and buy a couple copies of gasguzzlers on old tech dvds and see if I can get direct IP working in that. Only downside is the DLC zombie add-on isn't something "buyable" it seems. Annoying as I already purchased the game in steam and seems no way I'll be able to play it next year.

I should have never fallen back into that trap but I knew the day would come. I'm not installing windows 10 just for the sake of playing a couple of games. Win10 only has 2 years left anyway. So win11...win12... Nope. Isn't going to run on my old hardware. No telling when steam will pull the plug on gasguzzlers anyway. Just not worth the hassle.

So I guess it's goodbye from me then steam.

[atari030]

If I can't get the game on physical media or a downloadable file I can back up, I'm not buying it. I've never bothered with Steam and my XB1s is mostly gathering dust. Its kind of ironic that companies like EB games are going out of business as physical media disappears and subscriber content takes over.

Stuff that, plug in a cart and fire up the Atari. :-) Nothing beats Star Raiders, Xenon or Stunt Car Racer anyway.

On the Windows front, the only thing stopping me going to Ubuntu is Photoshop.

[exxos]

Yeah I can still play games from floppy 30+ years later. Games these days seems to be 2-5 years by what I've read.

My girlfriend was saying the same as she has TV series on dvd and various films. Can't do that with streaming services now. Pay to watch something once and goodbye. She gets boxsets still sealed for next to nothing these days. She collecting all the startrek series currently. Buy once, own forever. Something which is lacking these days.

[atari030]

I do the same, it makes sense. Huge UHD 4k and bluray collection, sometimes DVD if there is no other option. Music is either vinyl, CD or SACD. Net goes down, I can still watch Star Trek or Star Wars. I've never paid for online movies.

Actually, now is the time to buy CD's and movies. They can be got for $2 in the op shops.

[Steve]

This is why GOG games (good old games) is the place to buy your games. They're DRM free digital downloads. You own them forever.

[exxos]

This is why GOG games (good old games) is the place to buy your games. They're DRM free digital downloads. You own them forever.

Never knew of that site thanks.

It seems there is some compatibility thing in steam called proton which is supposed to allow Windows games to work. So going to give that a try on my MINT laptop,

[rubber_jonnie]

Whilst I can see the points raised here and don't necessarily disagree (After all Windows 11 made me go Mac), support for Windows 7 ended in January 2020, and whilst Windows 8.1 was supported until January 2023, it is out of support nonetheless.

These versions of Windows are now flawed from a security perspective, will never be patched and will become more vulnerable as time goes on.

Steam is looking to reduce the amount of work they need to do to support these unsupported O/S es, but at the same time they are also likely trying to reduce their surface area to attacks on their systems by closing some holes in the fence caused by the Steam client running on versions of Windows that likely have new security holes popping up daily which will never be patched.

I work in an environment that requires strong security, so I understand why they would try and put up stronger fences.

And don't forget, this isn't the first time something like this has happened, Apple notoriously dropped support for 32 bit apps in their Mac OS and a lot of people were very unhappy. Did all their shouting make a difference? Nope and 3 years later there are no 32 bit apps for the latest versions of the OS, and in addition, Boot Camp is also gone because of Apple silicon, meaning unless you want to buy Parallels Desktop, all Windows activity is out.

These things are pushed upon us because it matters not how loud people shout, these large companies are the ones in control and it'll always be that way, so like it or not it'll happen again and again.

If you want to play older games, then there are plenty of abandonware sites for DOS and Windows games, so you are not bound to use Steam and Steam alone.

I haven't personally played games on PC in a long time, I got tired of the idea of chasing hardware to make things faster and look better, so I have an Xbox series X now. It gives me all the power I want and I can game in my living room, plus I can guarantee games, either on disk or digital download, will just work with my hardware. Then there's the backwards compatibility for my existing library of game disks.

To quote Agent Smith form 'The Matrix' - "You Hear That Mr. Anderson? That Is The Sound Of Inevitability!"

Like it or not, Steam is unlikely to back down on this.

This is a personal opinion, please don't shout at me!

[Steve]

@exxos I use Proton support in my Steam linux and it's great for me, even on modern games. It's one of my favorite features because I can still play my games while using a good OS like Linux :)

[rubber_jonnie]

@exxos I use Proton support in my Steam linux and it's great for me, even on modern games. It's one of my favorite features because I can still play my games while using a good OS like Linux :)

IIRC Linus Tech Tips did a video on 'going Linux' and Proton was definitely mentioned for gaming, so worth a look.

[exxos]

@rubber_jonnie Steam won't do anything, like any other big company. They are not going to care about the <2% of users running win7/8. But to simply stop people launching the games they paid for is just bad form on their part. You don't necessarily even need steam to run games. But when downloaded via steam, you do, because they add in their code crap into it all.

They could release a legacy steam which doesn't even connect to their network, but again, companies don't care about the 2%. That is where the whole argument on steam comes from because they are preventing people from running software which they paid for. Of course a counterargument is the user's going obsolete operating systems are causing that problem. But it's like one other " freedom" taken away from us like what Louis Rossmann continuously bangs on about. We should have the freedom to use the stuff we paid for. Indeed in this case people want to run Windows 7 with their favourite games they should have the right to do so. But that right has been taken away.

My girlfriends PC is old, she cannot afford to update the hardware just the stake of running Windows 11. I personally am just sick of the whole reinstalling the operating saga. My circuit analysis software that had to do a little bit of hackery to get it working in Windows, I cannot just simply downloadable limits and have a nice day because it is very expensive paid software and I don't want to fork out £2,000+ for it. I use WinCUPL for all my stuff, no idea if there is even a linux distro of it, I presume not. Any operating system change for me is basically going to ruin my 20 year workflow. I really don't have the time or motivation to rebuild my entire workstation on the ground up, again.

As for security vulnerabilities, my girlfriends mum runs Windows 10 and she's constantly reinstalling it because she ends with malware all the time. So I don't really consider later versions of Windows any more secure than previous ones. I have not had any malware attacks for a long time she has them daily almost. Though most of these attacks tend to come via email and file attachments which she never seems to understand exactly. This falls down to due diligence and the antivirus software where more than Windows itself. My point of view windows is a steaming pile of dogsh*t for security regardless of what version it is. If it wasn't for decent antivirus software then windows would just be completely unusable. In terms of my girlfriends mom, it is basically unusable.

A couple years ago I saw the vulnerabilities list versions of Windows, there is a lot of vulnerabilities which have been in Windows right from the start and there are still vulnerabilities. I don't remember what the list was but there was literally thousands of them in every operating system. In terms of security anyway, the only way to be secure to simply not go on the Internet or use a computer full stop. Anything else is going to be a risk in one respect or another.

In terms of time, I have literally spent vast amounts of time keeping the server software updated as people know. Most of it has involved thousands of hours of thing around trying to come up with solutions and looking on the four possible solutions for endless hours. I really want to get off this crazy train! That is pretty-much soaking up all my time lately. If I throw in the mix constantly screwing around with my workflow I might as well just close shop and not bother because I just simply don't have the time or the patience screw around continuously with two operating systems.

I have considered updating windows but I really don't see the point anymore. Back to when I asked Microsoft why they was blocking my server IP and they have no idea why but was going to continue doing it. Then it seems later versions of Windows you have to have a Microsoft account to log into your pc.. no thanks. I can see how that is going to end up. So we were going to lock you out of your PC we don't know why but we are continue to going to do it have a nice day!

If Microsoft released a decent operating system I may ultimately consider to upgrade but the track Microsoft have been on since Windows 8 has just been frankly terrible IMO. Maybe windows 14 will be better but I don't plan on sticking around that long to find out.

As people know I am messing with Linux Mint but while this will be likely secure enough to be online is not going to help with my programs. I really don't want to spend the next month for years screwing around this trying to get it working. I have enough hassle of that with the server software.

Yeah if I get hacked everyone is going to say " told you so", I have many backups on-site and off-site all my important stuff. Looking at all the windows floors which keep popping up in my newsfeed I don't really see how that is a improvement anyway. But also like I say, I barely have time for Atari stuff these days as it is with screwing around with the server and with general chaos life. It's not practical for me to screw around with Windows continuously as well, my workflow works perfectly fine how it is now. Realistically worst-case I will pull it off the Internet anyway. Not sure why anyone would want to steal 20+ years of Atari stuff anyway.

So will I ever ditch Windows 7, likely not for the foreseeable future. That is does not mean I am ignorant to security issues either. Aside from my antivirus is totally paranoid of anything which happens. Whatever that problem ultimately ends up being, if I'm unable to fix it then I will just have to unplug Windows 7 machine from the Internet and carry on.

If that machine gets totally trashed and somehow is unrecoverable then it is just going to be collateral damage, or the "price" which is paid for continuing keeping the forum and server functioning as well as my web store. I think doing Atari work is a lot more productive than endlessly screwing around with Windows which basically accomplishes nothing at the end of the day other than taking a huge amounts of time and be destructive to my workflows.

I will continue to mess around with Linux Mint "in my own time" And I do plan on seeing what applications I can get running on there which I use now like Eagle 7. Will my licence work on another machine ? likely not I assume. More drama. Switch to kicad, more drama. So at least I can get some idea of the collateral damage it will cause in shifting OS. Obviously things like chrome work, so my Internet banking and whatnot can be done there without any problems. So me switching OS could literally destroyed my entire workflow. I really don't have the time or motivation to endlessly screw around with stuff anymore.

Next week I will be playing around with the DFB1 booster and busy with work. I still need to look at the STE DMA issues and a million other things I need to catch up on.. This will likely push OS stuff back a few more months... Thats just how things are. I'm only one person at the end of the day. A rather poorly one at that. Like I said many times before, I don't really plan on continuing to do Atari stuff for much longer as I simply want to retire. So what programs are on my PC or what OS I use will become totally irrelevant in the near future anyway.