In June, we wrote that Windows 11 will depart hundreds of thousands of PCs behind, seemingly as a result of their processors aren’t as new and absolutely featured as Microsoft would love.

This morning, Microsoft revealed a change of plan to The Verge: it received’t technically abandon these hundreds of thousands of PCs, since you’ll have the ability to manually set up the downloadable Windows 11 ISO on no matter you need. The firm’s additionally extending its official CPU compatibility listing to a bunch of Intel’s most costly Xeon workstation processors and its most costly line of Core X desktop CPUs — and, tellingly, the much less highly effective Intel chip it shipped in its Surface Studio 2, so it not has to defend the concept of abandoning a flagship product that it still continues to sell brand-new.

But whereas it would appear to be Microsoft’s opening up the floodgates, the complicated actuality of Windows 11 upgrades hasn’t modified fairly as a lot as you may suppose. While DIY PC players, IT admins, and different energy customers will have the ability to carry out a clear set up of Windows 11 on current {hardware} courting again years, it nonetheless appears like Microsoft will probably be encouraging hundreds of thousands of individuals to switch their completely good Windows PCs.

Imagine for a second that you just’ve by no means heard of an ISO; you’re hoping to improve your growing old machine to the refreshing but acquainted Windows 11 this fall; and also you wish to know if it’ll work. You may effectively hearth up Microsoft’s PC Health Check app, as a result of that’s the precise instrument the corporate is promoting for that objective. But that instrument may lead you astray. Microsoft tells The Verge that app will nonetheless test your CPU towards Microsoft’s listing of supported processors — and direct you to “relevant support articles that include potential remediation steps” if you happen to don’t have the chips that Microsoft prefers.

Most Windows PC homeowners most likely received’t trouble with a compatibility checker app, in fact. They’ll simply look forward to the Windows Update that may routinely carry it to them totally free, very like how Windows 10 was a free replace when it arrived in 2015. But right here, once more, Microsoft will solely be updating computer systems with supported CPUs.

Avoiding computerized updates for CPUs that aren’t supported makes some quantity of sense: Microsoft doesn’t wish to be blamed if it makes your Windows expertise worse, and it will probably’t check each single configuration underneath the solar.

But how a lot worse is worse? Microsoft makes it sound fairly unhealthy at first, writing that it noticed 52 % extra kernel mode crashes (aka the notorious BSOD) when testing techniques that didn’t meant its minimal spec — whereas machines that did meet it had a 99.8 % crash-free expertise. But if you happen to do the maths, it means we’re going from a 2-in-1,000 likelihood of a BSOD to a 3-in-1,000 likelihood. That further quantity of downtime won’t be acceptable for a sysadmin managing 1000’s of older computer systems, nevertheless it’d doubtless be a special story for the typical one that solely buys a brand new PC each 4 to 6 years.

As we’ve defined earlier than, Microsoft has some legitimate safety causes to insist on extra stringent {hardware} necessities like TPM 2.0, notably from its laptop computer and desktop companions. The firm’s been focused by some extraordinarily troubling assaults and want to stop extra, nevertheless it solely has a lot leverage over the PC trade to ensure security measures are literally turned on. (Microsoft has technically mandated TPM 2.0 since July 2016.)

None of this will probably be an issue for many who merely purchase a brand new pc with a preloaded copy of Windows 11. But that’s my level — now that Microsoft has revealed it’s not truly locking Windows 11 to these security measures, the listing of supported CPUs feels much more like a present to Intel and PC producers within the type of further pc gross sales (the place Microsoft earnings off every Windows 10 license) than a staunch safety play. And it’ll be a disgrace, notably for the setting, if folks wind up tossing PCs which are completely able to working the brand new OS.

As safety knowledgeable (and former Microsoft menace intelligence analyst) Kevin Beaumont put it earlier this year, the corporate’s motivations are questionable:

Microsoft is probably about to push a number of folks towards shopping for a brand new pc this fall, and PC producers will probably be solely too completely satisfied to assist. I simply surprise how shameless Microsoft will probably be as time goes on: in relation to selling its personal Microsoft Edge browser, it has repeatedly disrespected its personal customers’ decisions with compelled Windows Updates.