Hi there
If people want to use old legacy hardware they can just keep running old versions of the OS -- people complaining about x86 support being dropped perhaps are still decrying that support for the old cpu's e.g 20186 and earlier were dropped.

Getting rid of x86 stuff makes the OS and its applications far easier to build, run, maintain and debug as you don't need a level of implied virtualisation.

In any case speaking of virtualisation - those that want to run legacy software (or even where possible legacy hardware) on modern gear can easily continue to do so until the end of the life of the Universe by simply running Virtual machines.

Ms should have dropped x86 support a long time ago -- the most obvious time was at the introduction of W10 -- I suspect the fact they didn't was rather more political than technological --especially with the hideous problems with Windows 8. Ms didn't want people to stop on W7 indefinitely so they had to make it as easy as possible to switch to W10 --even now I think the "Free upgrade" which should have expired years ago still works --haven't tried it recently but it was certainly woprking in January.

(Most Linux distros these days have stopped shipping with X86 support by default although you can still get versions with x86 support built in) -- There's been no outrcry from these users - especially as you can run Linux on incredibly ancient hardware.

IMHO if you've got modern hardware why would you want to hobble it by running software designed for hardware made 20 years earlier !!!!.

Cheers
jimbo

I think MS is doing the right thing. This decision is only for new devices and they stated they will continue support for devices still running the X86 version of Windows so it isn't really going to effect anyone. At least for now. The only thing I do miss from the old days is not being able to run my old games. I have found some of the old games on Steam. I started playing Escape From Monkey Island about 2 weeks ago. I'm still having trouble getting use to the joystick control.

I'm trying to recall back to what hardware I might have that is x86 only. I still have my old Athlon64 x2 4600+, which hasn't been powered on in about 10 years, and even that is 64 bit.

Go ahead and get rid of it.

pparks1 said:

I'm trying to recall back to what hardware I might have that is x86 only...

A machine may be 64 bit capable, but if the maximum memory that can be installed is only 2GB then 32 bits is the only practical option. Many older CPUs cannot address more than 2GB, some Intel Atoms for example.

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 2.44 GB

Intel Atom(R) Processor N2600 (1M Cache, 1.6 GHz) Product Specifications

Bree said:

A machine may be 64 bit capable, but if the maximum memory that can be installed is only 2GB then 32 bits is the only practical option. Many older CPUs cannot address more than 2GB, some Intel Atoms for example.

Intel Atom(R) Processor N2600 (1M Cache, 1.6 GHz) Product Specifications

I just fired up my old Lenovo tablet. It has the Atom processor and is running 32 bit Windows and has 2 GB of memory. I haven't used it in years.