Or rather, the Epic Game Store app will no longer support those
operating systems. The 32-bit version of Windows 10 is also getting
the axe.
Which - given that Windows 7 is now 15 years old (and 3 years out of
support from Microsoft - is understandable. As much as I'm a fan of
those older operating systems (and honestly, wish support for them
would be longer), I get why companies feel the need to deprecate the
older OS.
But - as much as it grinds me gears to do so - I have to give credit
to Epic for /how/ they are handling this transition. Because while
they are no longer supporting those operating systems, they are NOT preventing you from running EGS on them. If you have an older version
of EGS running on Windows7, it will keep running. No, you won't get
anymore updates, and if there's a bug or security issue, don't expect
Epic to fix the problem. But if you are just using it to launch games
on an older computer, it will keep working.
This is how it should be. It's very different from Valve, which
actively disables Steam from running on older operating systems, and
even if you do get the client running, its unlikely you'll be able to
use it actually launch games.
Of course, the optimal solution would be just to make the games
available as self-installing executables, so players wouldn't HAVE to
use a launcher, even after the reseller stops supporting their OS. Oh,
if only (GOG) there was some reseller (GOG) who provided so helpful
(GOG) an option! But alas, there isn't. ;-P
Still, at least Epic didn't do the most-awful thing and force people
to abandon their older computers entirely...
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 16:14 this Thursday (GMT):
Or rather, the Epic Game Store app will no longer support those
operating systems. The 32-bit version of Windows 10 is also getting
the axe.
Which - given that Windows 7 is now 15 years old (and 3 years out of
support from Microsoft - is understandable. As much as I'm a fan of
those older operating systems (and honestly, wish support for them
would be longer), I get why companies feel the need to deprecate the
older OS.
But - as much as it grinds me gears to do so - I have to give credit
to Epic for /how/ they are handling this transition. Because while
they are no longer supporting those operating systems, they are NOT
preventing you from running EGS on them. If you have an older version
of EGS running on Windows7, it will keep running. No, you won't get
anymore updates, and if there's a bug or security issue, don't expect
Epic to fix the problem. But if you are just using it to launch games
on an older computer, it will keep working.
This is how it should be. It's very different from Valve, which
actively disables Steam from running on older operating systems, and
even if you do get the client running, its unlikely you'll be able to
use it actually launch games.
Of course, the optimal solution would be just to make the games
available as self-installing executables, so players wouldn't HAVE to
use a launcher, even after the reseller stops supporting their OS. Oh,
if only (GOG) there was some reseller (GOG) who provided so helpful
(GOG) an option! But alas, there isn't. ;-P
Still, at least Epic didn't do the most-awful thing and force people
to abandon their older computers entirely...
Outright preventing old versions of programs is a big problem ini know
computers.. I still miss the old Steam UI.
This is how it should be. It's very different from Valve, which
actively disables Steam from running on older operating systems, and
even if you do get the client running, its unlikely you'll be able to
use it actually launch games.
On Sat, 23 Mar 2024 20:50:15 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
This is how it should be. It's very different from Valve, which
actively disables Steam from running on older operating systems, and
even if you do get the client running, its unlikely you'll be able to
use it actually launch games.
Just checked and Steam still works on Windows 7. I was able to update
and launch a couple of games without issue. So while I'm guessing some
day in the future it'll stop working when Steam makes some incompatible
protocol or API change, for now you can still play Steam games on
Windows 7.
It'll probably be when they update Steam's internal HTML renderer,
which uses Chrome to a later version. Modern Chrome is Win10 and later
Then you'll get stuck in the 'Steam must update to run' and 'This
update doesn't support your OS' loop.
Fortunately, the Win7>Win10 transition was a lot less rocky than the
previous WinXP->Win7 change-over, so you'll likely have a lot fewer
games that will only run on the older OS. And Linux/Wine/Proton is increasingly a viable alternative.
Still, it would have been nice if Valve had provided a not-officially-supported alternative for older PCs/operating systems
to install and run games released before the cut-off date.
(I mean, I get why they don't, but a lot of older PCs are more than
capable of running these older games just fine, and it seems like a
lot of hardware is going to just get wastefully junked because of
business - and not technical - reasons)
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