Microsoft has announced that the Microsoft Store will cease functioning on Windows 8.x devices.
Killing off the Microsoft Store for Windows 8.x? Sounds reasonable, right? After all that piece of garbage OS has not been supported for quite a while. Except that knowing Microsoft, they might soon pull this off for people running previous versions of Windows 10 as well.
So perhaps in 2025 Microsoft might no longer provide support for Windows 10 1909. Fair enough, perhaps. But then blocking access to the Microsoft Store? For what reason?
Normally I’d say “fair enough, just upgrade to the latest build”—except that Microsoft in the past has dropped support for what it considers “old CPUs” in subsequent builds of the OS. So you buy a perfectly fine PC with a legit and supported Windows 10 installed, then in a few years you find out that you can no longer update to a new build, and subsequently, Microsoft Store might no longer work for you.
How “justified” is justified?
I find it hard to accept Microsoft’s reasons for dropping support on a perfectly capable Intel CPU from one build to the next. For instance I have a Core i7 DELL Laptop from 2011 with 32GB of RAM which is rock solid and FLIES even for today’s standards. It’s absurd that MSFT could flick a switch and make it unable to update or access the Store.
I believe it’s a gimmick—an artificial limitation meant to push people toward buying new PCs and boost the hardware market. Sure there are self-righteous buffoons out there who would just say “oh, change your PC already. It is too old. I change mine every X years”. But what someone does with their perfectly fine device is their own choice. Why impose arbitrary hardware restrictions?
Linux is always an option—but it’s not ideal for gamers.