this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
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Wait...
Excluding half of the active PCs or so from upgrade due to arbitrary hardware constraints didn't push upgrading?
How can this be??? π―π«’
What actually is the hardware requirement here?
First major requirement is the presence of a recent TPM module, which is absolutely not required performance-wise, but only for DRM-reasons (and read that as "Digital Restriction Management").
Second even more arbitrary one is that they excluded all CPUs before at least Coffee Lake generation. Perhaps half of the PC stuff people I know to be running at home is still from the mid-2010s, so practically completely pre-Coffee-Lake.
And the IT infrastructure of the e.g. the German executive government branches is on average probably more in the range of 15 years old. A surprising lot of that isn't even fully switched to Windows 10 yet... (hey, at least we are increasingly migrating away from Telefax...!)
TPM is a good ideas but hardly seems like a requirement.
Microsoft should just tell OEMs they canβt sell windows pre installed without TPM hardware.
I agree that would have been the sensible way to go... Together with an "Install at your own risk" message when trying to upgrade a PC containing an older CPU...
I really don't know what their reasoning is to enforce the requirements so hard for everyone.
It's not "arbitrary" I'd say. It's part of a long term plan to probably push a fully trusted platform. Yes, so they can ID you by hardware etc but also lock down driver installs and maybe even software installs one day.
That's exactly what arbitrary is. It's not for a good reason, it's so they can push bullshit later. The limitations were chosen arbitrarily because they're not real limitations, they're entirely imposed by a Microsoft for their own ends. A non-arbitrary limitation is like minimum graphics card requirements for a game - won't run without it. What do you think arbitrary means?
Well, it's for a good reason in their view. Also, pretty much everyone here is not the normal computer user. The normal computer user is only dimly aware they use something called windows. The use a web browser and perhaps 3 other programs on their PC. They're going to be happy when they're told that having a walled garden improves their computer's security.
We are the minority.
No, they claim it is for a good reason to excuse it so they can get away with all the stuff they want later whilst hopefully (from their perspective) making more profit now. It's the thin end of a wedge.
Stop defending corporations for anti-consumer behaviour. You do realise that YOU are a consumer as well, right?
You are misunderstanding their point. "Good reason" doesnt mean ethically good, it means there is a sound logical connection between the action they are taking and the outcome they want to happen. In that case Microsoft does have good reason to push trusted hardware, in the same way as a bank robber has good reason to buy a face mask.
I really feel like you should read my comment more carefully. I'm not defending them. I'm describing their rationale. My very last sentence should make clear I am not one of the normal users that will be happy and fine with this. I'm typing this, on Linux, right now.
Normal people don't care, and they would be happy with the thin veil of extra security they will gain (and be told they're going to gain), in exactly the same way the sales of the top tier mobile phones when they're boot locked and sideload locked will not dip in any meaningful way.
This is why I hoard old computers