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Windows 11 hardware requirements made a mockery of by an Intel Pentium 4 processor
As the screenshots below show, Microsoft considers the Intel Pentium 4 661 a supported processor. Intel released the Pentium 4 661 in early 2006, with a solitary core to its name. Apparently, Microsoft forgot to add any Intel Family 15 (Netburst) SKUs in its unsupported processors list for Windows 11.
Hence, the PC Health Check tool sees that the Pentium 4 661 has a 3.6 GHz boost clock, which satisfies one of Windows 11's requirements. Curiously, the tool states that the Pentium 4 661 has two or more cores, even though it lists it as having one.
@Carlos_SM1995 has even got Windows 11 (Build 22000.258) running on a Pentium 4 661. Supposedly, Windows Update still works too, highlighting the ridiculousness of Microsoft's overtures regarding Windows 11 compatibility.
Windows 11 final (Build 22000.258) running on Intel Pentium 4 (11m4s video)
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Tuesday October 19 2021, @07:40PM (5 children)
Not at all, that would be logical. But obviously they didn't do that. As it has been demonstrated, the code does run on ancient hardware, and since Intel has been backwards compatible for as long as I can remember, to the point where newer CPUs had to include all the bugs the old CPUs came with and programmers programmed around, this would suggest that Windows should run on newer hardware, and it not running is only due to MS deliberately sabotaging it.
(Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Wednesday October 20 2021, @04:28PM (4 children)
I am not a M$ cheerleader, but ... showing screenshots or even a video doesn't prove that it runs for all software in all environments. It could easily throw unsupported instruction errors running on hardware at a level that is below the build process compile flags. CPUs may be backward compatible but they are not *forward* compatible. Apple has been breaking backwards compatibility for, well, since forever. I think M$ is well within their rights to require a modern CPU to run on, and it may even be overdue.
How many times must this happen [https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/05/24/strategy-letter-ii-chicken-and-egg-problems/] :
Since I have to run Windows on work PCs, I'd be glad to get rid of all those old "special mode"s.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Wednesday October 20 2021, @04:44PM
Also of note to the backwards compatibility issue : https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/06/13/how-microsoft-lost-the-api-war/ [joelonsoftware.com]
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday October 20 2021, @09:31PM (2 children)
Again: Nobody complains about them not "officially" supporting ancient hardware. You run it and it runs, fine, you run it and it barfs, too bad. No support.
What they did, though, is deliberately sabotaging the ability of the software to run on certain CPUs. It doesn't just simply crash because of an illegal instruction or unsupported function, it checks for the type of CPU you have and if it detects one that it does not want to run on, it refuses to.
Do you understand the difference?
(Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Sunday October 24 2021, @02:04AM (1 child)
> Do you understand the difference?
Yes of course, let's not get condescending. But M$ doesn't want hordes of tweets and ig's about how horrible the new OS is and how it crashes all the time; public opinion is still important. Nip it in the bud and just don't allow it.
But I agree, there should be a hack or a huge RED don't press this button to run on old hardware. There probably will be a hack, in time.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday October 25 2021, @04:15AM
If information control and PR was the name of the game, that's easy to do. Make sure everyone and their dog knows the minimum specs and use your army of fanboys to mercilessly mock anyone who complains about performance on unsupported hardware.
Sorry, not buying it.