GOG Version coming when Steam locks out all Windows 7 users?

[Dragony]

Hey,

I am one of the few using Windows 7 because of privacy issues. Since Steam decided to kick us out, I wonder if I will be able to repurchase ONI on Gog or if the coming months are the last ones when I have the chance playing ONI.

 

[NikiHammerforce]

What about Epic Games?

[JRup]

Many game companies are "somewhat addicted" to DRM and platforms as steam and egs provide a somewhat useful form of that... As far as I recall, GOG had that no-drm motto going around (unless they've moved on, it's been a while since I've checked), so I wouldn't be able to comment on what Klei's parent company's stance would be in this case but we all get the drift (I hope).

The fact that W7 survives to this day in some computers for the reasons you argue should let the suits in Redmond know at least what some people actually need, but I guess they ignore it on purpose - be it because that's not the revenue model they're pursuing, for example. Personally, I've discarded said line of OS's entirely and enjoy the work that steam is doing on one of the alternatives as well - no, I'm nowhere near a functional computer with any form of macOS on it.

Steam's decision to 'kick us out' is more a combination of their and google's fault. Google has the power over the embedded chrome version steam now uses as its launcher and that particular piece of software is being moved away from W7. So I guess it's being more of a "being left behind" scenario.  And if we pay attention to the article, it seems EGS is moving in that direction as well:

https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-wont-support-windows-7-and-8-after-2024

If you're a DIY kind of person (and I believe that's something which happens to describe most ONI players) then looking for a "reduced" way to have a 'lighter' Windows install may be more up your alley (it was something many W7 users enjoyed doing, coincidentally), but that's a bit beyond the scope here.

Still, there's still some time to go until it's 2024.

[SharraShimada]

On 4/4/2023 at 7:19 PM, Dragony said:

Hey,

I am one of the few using Windows 7 because of privacy issues. Since Steam decided to kick us out, I wonder if I will be able to repurchase ONI on Gog or if the coming months are the last ones when I have the chance playing ONI.

 

Steam is not kicking you out. Steam is updating the chromium base of the steam software, and this is the part that wont run anymore on 7 and 8.1. Both windows versions are EOL. Deal with it. Thats the way it works. You could try Epic Games, but i dont know how long they will support Win7. I guess they will change some things in the near future too. Supporting deprecated OS versions costs money and is useless. 

[MinhPham]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:55 PM, SharraShimada said:

Steam is not kicking you out. Steam is updating the chromium base of the steam software, and this is the part that wont run anymore on 7 and 8.1. Both windows versions are EOL. Deal with it. Thats the way it works. You could try Epic Games, but i dont know how long they will support Win7. I guess they will change some things in the near future too. Supporting deprecated OS versions costs money and is useless. 

Why do you even want to protect the browser from dll injection  (although this useless thing is bypassable)

By the way it's actually cost more to stay update-to-date ....

[CastleCustodian]

My recommendation would be to update to a modern operating system. You could use Linux like I do. ONI runs great on it. Also it is possible to update to windows 10 and cut out the spyware. Running an OS that old, it is not a question of if but when you will get hacked.

[_zwb]

Steam is kicking out Win7 users? When and why?

[JRup]

@SleeplessRat

Here's a not so TL;DR. for your perusal - reading required (also found in this thread): https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-wont-support-windows-7-and-8-after-2024

[psusi]

Switch to Linux

[Gurgel]

I am currently have a gaming only win10 PC. No email. No MS account. No web-surfing except for the games. I think I will keep that for as long as gaming on Windows is a thing and Linux as alternative is too limited. If I were only playing ONI, I would have ditched the atrocity that Windows is a long time ago. 

[Primalflower]

19 minutes ago, Gurgel said:

No MS account.

Tell me your secret... It seems required for many things, including signing into the computer, is it not?

[Gurgel]

MS tries to give you the impression that you have to have an MS account. But you probably will be able to do it with a local account instead forever, at least for the pro versions, also because not giving that option would put MS very likely in violation of the GDPR.  One trick is to not have network when installing, as far as I remember. There are others. They also change from time to time. Just look online for "Installing Win10 with local account". So all that has been happening is that MS tries to trick me into opening an MS account after some updates. 

 

[SharraShimada]

Using Windows without MS-account will be possible forever. Why? Because there are computers in companies without internet access. They are in the intranet, and the get updates via a local server, but they will never get access to a MS-server directly. How would a MS-account work on those? Right, it wont.

[Gurgel]

They could restrict this to the enterprise version, but I doubt they will do that. They may make it harder to find out how to do it. 

[SharraShimada]

On 5/7/2023 at 11:05 AM, Gurgel said:

They could restrict this to the enterprise version, but I doubt they will do that. They may make it harder to find out how to do it. 

They could, but they will not. Why? Because too much non enterprise windows versions are out there on machines and offline computers. Enterprise is not the version for the masses. Professional is. And yes this means, they may castrate "Home" to make it impossible to use it without account. But then: who would want the home version in the first place?

[Gurgel]

4 hours ago, SharraShimada said:

They could, but they will not. Why? Because too much non enterprise windows versions are out there on machines and offline computers. Enterprise is not the version for the masses. Professional is. And yes this means, they may castrate "Home" to make it impossible to use it without account. But then: who would want the home version in the first place?

Agreed. Although they still may violate the GDPR if they try to force people into an account with home. They may simply risk that though.

[ALCRD]

On 4/4/2023 at 11:09 PM, NikiHammerforce said:

What about Epic Games?

Also won't support 7 from what i heard

[SharraShimada]

On 5/13/2023 at 11:25 PM, ALCRD said:

Also won't support 7 from what i heard

And why should they? Win7 is long gone. Win8.1 is gone, and Win10 is in its last year. Tech evolves, and those systems will never evolve again. No one will invest a penny to achieve support for long dead systems. 

There was a time cars and such where fueled with lead gasoline (Tetraethyllead). Motors back in the days depended on it. Its forbidden today. You cant run a motor that needs ist anymore. Thats normal. New things come, old things die. Move on.

[Dragony]

I think some people here just don't understand the reasons why some people want to keep Windows 7.

You probably think we love Windows 7. That's not true. It's not that we want to keep Windows 7 because we love it so much. The truth is that we will never ever, not even for money, move to Windows 10 or up, because while we dislike Winodws 7, we absolutely HATE Windows 10 and up. No way bro!

Maybe most people here aren't old enough to remember the times when the computer was a thing you actually OWN and do as you please. Starting with the mobile revolution, the mobile platforms have been designed as a service platform in mind. This means you are only allowed to do what the manufacturer allows. Surprisingly, the revolt didn't come, and so Microsoft now tries to extend this philosophy to desktop computers.

I will not spend any precious living time with a product where I have the clear feeling that I am fighting against the manufacturer on a daily basis.

 

[SharraShimada]

Sorry to break your illusions @Dragonybut i worked with computers at a time when intel was still in his infancy, and x86  was not even on the market. I DO know all of the times VERY well. And yes, while i would never say Win10 is a great OS, and yes Win7 was much nicer in many ways, i do NOT use Win7 since its EOL. Why? Because i´m not naive enough to hope nobody will take advantage over a no longer supported OS still connected to the web. Because i do want to use software from 2023+ and dont want to be limited to old versions that are hazards of its own. (for example deprecated browser versions with bugs wide open as a barn door)

I would have preferred to use Win7 for longer instead having to switch to Win10. And i fear the day, i have to move on to 11, because its way inferior to even Win95 in some ways. But thats how the world spins. 

You may sit in your basement, cross your arms in front of your PC and refuse to move along. Its your choice. But please stop complaining about the world being so bad to not support you in your sole decision to just stop evolving.

And a little Hint for you regarding Win7. You do not want Win10 because you want to own the stuff you use? Then PLEASE delete Win7, because you dont own it either.

[Dragony]

Ok Sharra, it is obviously only you who is aggressively defending Windows 10. I suppose you use it, regretting that you have to, and now want to force everyone else to use it as well, so others have to share your pain as well.

You don't know me, yet you want to judge me, so you are making several assumptions, which show me that you think everyone else than you is just stupid.

You assume I "hope nobody will take advantage over a no longer supported OS". Well, I do. I am working in the IT industry as a core networking programmer and I know what's going on.

You assume my W7 computer is "still connected to the web.". Well, it isn't. Outgoing connections are blocked. Only when I am updating it via Steam, I open the doors to allow outgoing connections for a few minutes.

You assume I am using W7 to browse the net. I am not. I am using FreeBSD for doing it. But besides, bugs in a web browser have nothing to do with bugs in the operating system you are using. I could use W95 protected by an external firewall with an updated Firefox and I would not hesitate using it for browsing the web.

In your last part you just go bluntly insulting, that I am crosssing my arms, refusing to evolve. I won't comment it because it just sounds like coming from an uneducated idiot.

And let's not forget the fact that I never asked anyone to continue supporting W7, but to release a GOG version. Steam is just a launcher.

 

[JRup]

@Dragony Side stepping the fact of OS's being shoved into the bin of obsolescent oblivion, I feel we need to take a minute to rewind and look at the chain of events and determine what is actually going on:

• Steam used to have a proprietary launcher that has been replaced. It is no longer their home grown solution.
• GOG eventually came along and followed in most of steam's steps.
• Both companies' efforts have been in (adapting) using software provided by your friendly neighborhood (and totally not evil) software company that might go by the name of g00gle.
• Said leviathan has deemed supporting older OS's a no-go scenario, chrome has moved on so here we are.

It's become trendy to adapt chrome for software launchers. Even Discord has adopted it as their app for linux. So, if anything, we would need to divert effort in trying to get continued support from the big G in the web. I sincerely doubt they'd budge.

The trend with windows-based OS's is for users to hang on to a version that does what it needs for them in a reasonable fashion. I get it, I've done it myself. A friend of mine held to 98 and even had CDs full of patches for it. I would have been currently holding on to 7 for what it's worth and reluctantly move on to 8 when the time came. I've tried 10 and its feel begins to unravel the user experience that I've personally come to expect from whatever Redmond tossed at us. I've read enough about 11 to know that if I'd have to use it then I'd look for some kind of solution that keeps core components and surgically removes that which makes it what many would deem a 'Spyware OS'.

The irony of it is that the win-doze shenanigans has made gaming on linux a better experience, so I extend greetings playing ONI on linux to you all.

 

 

[cpy]

@gurgel latest windows 11 install does not work offline and you will not create account without microsoft account, unless you use modded installations of W11 which currently I'm using W11 superlite edition. Very very risky thing to install and trust, thank you MS for forcing us to use shady installations images because you're complete and utter !@#$!@$!

TLDR: W11 is privacy nightmare

 

 

[Magheat2009]

Switching to Linux is the real answer. Windows 7 is not better supported at this point than Linux. Linux at least receives proper security updates. If you are unhappy about Windows, you need to make the effort to switch to Linux. Switching to Linux is nowhere as painful as it used to be with many Distros having quite easy installation, also there are plenty of good guides available for it online. I will recommend Fedora, Zorin OS or Linux Mint.

[Gurgel]

1 hour ago, cpy said:

@gurgel latest windows 11 install does not work offline and you will not create account without microsoft account, unless you use modded installations of W11 which currently I'm using W11 superlite edition. Very very risky thing to install and trust, thank you MS for forcing us to use shady installations images because you're complete and utter !@#$!@$!

TLDR: W11 is privacy nightmare

That bad? I think MS needs to get hit with another $500M fine by the EU. Because forcing the use of an account administrated in the US is a rather crass GDPR violation. I also wonder what they will do with the many "embedded" installations that have no network.