HOW does a CPU NOT support an older operating system, it just carries out a bunch of instructions?

Just because it is not officially "supported" doesn't mean windows 7 won't work, just won't be able to complain if you have problems. Just a clever way to trick everyone into buying new windows 10 licenses.

I can see the CPU work, but simply not optimized for the OS ? In more advanced stages you could see similarities with Windows XP, for example ever since I think it was Haswell, Windows XP simply refused to install on that processor. But I do think it'll work, but comparable to older graphics card, an an optimized legacy status. Not sure though, time tell.

Good, i find this as a positive notion. This will allow to get maximum optimization for latest system and provide ease for both developers of OS and Software to optimise it in order to make it work optimally, instead of wasting resources trying to make it compatible. Windows 7 is old and dated, besides using it for work on some older application / machine GUI's e.t.c. that were not updated for YEARS (same as some companies using Win 95/ 98/ ME/ XP, for that same purpose) there is absolutely 0 reasons for not moving to New OS - Win X in our case. While i personally probably wont upgrade to 7700k processor, and rather wait for next 10nm generation, a lot of people will upgrade, and i see this as a great benefit for them!

It'd be nice if Windows 10 supported my rather expensive external soundcard, which it doesn't...

If you build a totally new Windows machine, I reckon Win10 is the only way to go at that point anyway, with dx12 games increading rapidly, and ultimately new software and hardware shifting to it. Those who didn't upgrade their old license during the free period knew what they were doing, likely far better than many of those who did just because of the incessant MS nagging.

Remember that a lot of people have zero interest in games and DX12.. It's of course good if MS can focus on fewer OS but it's far from optimal to be forced to "upgrade" for a huge number of people.

Move to cripple steam OS I reckon?

Who cares about a 7 years old Operating System? I mean, move on guys...

The issue is not really with the CPU vendors, but with the OS support for the new and upcoming hardware features and extensions (power management, new instruction sets, IGP, etc.), i.e. things not concerning baseline capabilities. As long a CPU architecture is labeled "x86-compatible", it can boot and run any software from the last 30 years. As the CPUs become more like SoC, with a lot of closely integrated functionalities, sharing common resources (memory, caches, machine states), the older operating systems will not be worth the investment to bring all those "peripheral" goodies to them. For the most, it will simply be impossible. Windows XP will run fine on Zen and KL, just with most of the advanced features sitting idle and unused. Only benefiting from whatever incremental improvements are made to the baseline ISA (memory, cache, branch prediction and op's execution).

I am sure enthusiasts will find a way to make it work if they want to use W7. Windows 7 refused to install on Skylake already, showing nonsense error about optical drives while in reality it requires a simple USB 3.0 drive integration into installation media.. Some features like new instructions will probably be not supported. AFAIK Windows 10 is already the only Windows version that support Intel Speed Shift debuted in Skylake CPUs.

HOW does a CPU NOT support an older operating system, it just carries out a bunch of instructions?

with change in instruction set supported and removal of old one so the OS think it is not a CPU made for him... Remember the drama when nearly all OS were needing 100% SSE to work and AMD Athlon have only partial??? now no one complain neither on M$ Windows or Linux. (more recentely with Pentium Anniversary despite patched on windows just after)

To me what it boils down to is not just CPU compatibility and optimization with older OSes but down to Motherboard manufactures creating drivers for the old Oses like Windows 7. There has to be a cut off point somewhere. I think when ever users decide to upgrade their cpus to either a Kirby-Lake cpu or a Zen cpu they may want Windows 10 because there is nothing wrong with it after certain tweaks are applied.

I could understand if we were talking about old OSes not being supported by Zen and Kaby Lake, like Windows 98 or XP. But one would expect support for recent OS like Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. These OS are still being used by millions of people, especially Windows 7. How can it be that the only supported OS is only one year old? This is clearly a scheme from Microsoft to force users to upgrade to Windows 10. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some kind of deal made under the table, where MS was paying AMD and Intel to end support for OS that are not Windows 10.

Windows 7 is getting rather old. There's no reason why they should support ancient relics.

Windows 7 was released in 2009. It's not even a decade old. It's just 7 years old. We have never seen an OS losing support for new CPUs this fast. This is just Microsoft being anti-consumer.........once again.

Windows 7 is getting rather old. There's no reason why they should support ancient relics.

I agree, I hated Windows 8/8.1 .. and aside from all telemetry that Microsoft acquires, Windows 10 works very stable and beautiful. I assume that if you purchase a new PC all pimped up with a hardcore processor and nice GPU, you'll go Windows 10 anyway, even for DX12 support alone.

This is Bull**** story. It's not going to happen. There are countless reasons why not. Doesn't take a genius to understand.

But one would expect support for recent OS like Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. These OS are still being used by millions of people, especially Windows 7.

Yeah, millions of people running their old machines. This will only affect machines built using parts that aren't even released yet. Thus it will anyway most of the time mean a fresh install of the OS, whether it's a normal install or a corporate imaging. I could see the stance changing if this turned out to be a problem for big business and governmental users. From there it would then leak everywhere.

I am a basic computer user, this gadget helps me with a lot of work and also I love playing games with it etc. After using Windows 10 I reistalled W7 again, I am spending few more seconds looking at the screen while it boots but then again I am saving so much more by being able to choose updates and when they will be installed. Windows 10 in my opinion was made to make money instead of provide people with a next gen OS while making money. A lot of features some good some bad -again depending on the point of view, which is perfectly fine, but its not fine when I do not have a feeling that I am in control of the machine. Features, settings can be reset to the default position after an update... I refuse to re-check settings now and then, it is not how I understand using Personal Computer, and those habits/convenience was engraved by using Win XP and W7. I was so disappointed with W10 that I said that is it I can't be using this malware-like OS, I even tried putting Linux and I thought for some games virtual machine with W7 should do the job, but I am missing some basic knowledge and I was struggling with simple tasks like installing drivers, nothing worked for me, so I am back on W7, both PC for games and work PC. One of the most important features for me is the back up, which is exactly the same on W10 as it is on W7. p.s. A great adventure was when I formated disks with Linux and then after very frustating several hours of struggle I found out that well, after a format user must build the partition again in a very detailed and specific way (yes, for me it is very complicated), so it taught me something new, with W10 so far I came across only facepalms and disappointments, and no DX12 yet anyway... Return of the star menu, omg what a joke MS, on W8 I had to purchase 3rd party Application to have that start button, so much BS :cheers: