Key word being if. But that is quite the struggle for them.

Don’t worry about it. There is always panic about “new version of windows, aaargh everything will stop working”. Even if something does, it’s usually covered pretty soon, dosbox, do wrappers etc. And if worst comes to worst, just have a machine or two not connected to the internet (you are aware that computers work without the internet?). Then you can have whatever operating systems you want on them. Then main issue is the internet, as that is such a terrible place, you want to have all kinds of security updates and such like, so that empowers M$ and others to have power over your machine.

According to
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-verge/
the verge has no failed a fact check, so it should be quite trustworthy, on par with (or perhaps even better than) many of the well known news web sites.

I find it ridiculous that Microsoft has announced an end-of-life date for the current version of their OS before formally announcing the replacement, particularly when it's an active product.
Until you run into a game that requires the internet to work (many DRM-encumbered games are like this even if only single-player) and which don't work with the new Windows version.

(That's one reason why I consider DRM to be unethical; it hurts preservation of games.)

So far I don't see anything pointing either to necessary game updates or dropping 32 bit support. There is a leaked version of Windows 11 by the way. You can see an overview here for example.
My impressions? Someone at MS said "hey - let's make Start menu as bad as apps menu in Gnome". Seriously, almost every iteration is a down-step from the last one.

This is largely talked of by people confused by the difference between 32-bit Windows and WoW64. The former has already been stopped through OEM channels (there's no reason why an OEM builder would need a 32-bit Windows) and is being phased out. There has been no comment on the latter, but I would expect WoW64 to continue until we progress to 128-bit processors (if that happens).

As such, I'd assume business as usual, at least until an official announcement or event.

Do you have a link to a site that doesn't auto-play video? Or, preferably, to a site that has the overview in text rather than video form?

(Also, please don't post surprise links to sites that auto-play video.)

I don't expect that to ever happen, given that 64 bits are enough to access 16 billion gigabytes (or 16 exabytes), which feels like more memory than would ever fit in that space (especailly since RAM capacities don't seem to be increasing like they used to).

In fact, even modern 64-bit CPUs don't use all the bits of their address space, so there's still plenty of room to grow here.

It's just a marketing thing, it's easier to have peoples excited by releasing a "new" version instead of just another feature upgrade.

But behind the scene it seems that this version is in reality just Windows 10 Sun Valley (as in feature upgrade 21H2), the long rumored major "major" upgrade of Windows 10 UI which has just been renamed Windows 11. So while it will be bigger than your usual feature upgrade it shouldn't really be a "revolution" or anything.

Now the big question how Microsoft will handle upgrades, will they charge the "full price" will it be free to upgrade like Windows 10 was from previous version.

Well, no sure if is founded or unfounded news at cent per cent but apparently an ISO of Windows 11 has been leaked, at least it is the name (well I wnow how these things are, It is probably a voluntary leak, a semiofficial demo of some kind)

And in some sites the ISO has been installed and they show how it works and the features inside. So it appears to be for real.

It is basically Windows 10X merged with Windows 10 big updates.

Well that is of course the main issue with drm, online checks, online microtransaction, online dlc, online content, activation, client requirement etc. Control mechanisms (I try to cover bases before the usual lot jump in with xyz is not drm nonsense again). Unless it is 100% offline then it’s going to be an issue on any system/OS.
End of the day though, if you know what you are doing you can find cracks, patches, reimplements etc. For most things. The only game I have not been able to get running is “you are empty”, for which there appears to be no crack available that isn’t infected.

As for games not working with windows 10, really stop probagating this myth (I understand, Linux is the master OS and everything else doesn’t work and all that!). So directplay was not enabled by default, and they dropped support for securom, which I think we can all agree was a good thing. This has not affected compatability. I have yet to find a game which doesn’t run on windows 10.

Simply put, win 10 is the most widely used OS, and will be for the foreseeable future. And there is nothing really stopping someone having an offline machine, except for reliance on clients and such like.

I completely agree with you on this one. 16-bit is a bit of a challenge, but I understand that there's now some kind of wrapper that you can use (plus, for those, you can emulate a Windows 95 environment running at over 300Mhz on recent PCs anyway).

The ONLY game I've not been able to get running is "Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo". I'm not convinced it ran in Windows 7 either - and it could be my specific config that causes a problem (tips welcome; I've tried compatibility modes, dgvoodoo2 and the usual workarounds for the disc-based DRM).

Either way, everything else I've got going via working around Securom and occasionally using a wrapper to pass pre DX9 through DX12. To be honest, if a user can't get things running in Windows 10, I wouldn't recommend that they switched to an alternative OS as the investment in learning how to use it would be greater than the investment required in learning how to get a game running in Win10.

Actual situation on Linux:
* The kernel has a strict "do not break userspace" policy. Hence, it is possible to run ancient Linux software on a modern kernel. (One notable execption: I believe that, after many decades, they recently dropped the a.out executable format; it remained in the kernel long after such format remained in use before it was finally removed. Then again, I can't think of any software that was only distributed as an a.out binary that's notable.)
* Userspace, however, is a different story. You're not going to be running ancient binaries on a modern userland; there's just too many differences, like the difference between libc5 and glibc (which pretty much every Linux program depends onl Windows programs also likely share a libc dependency).
* Fortunately, you can use mechanisms like chroot and containers to run an ancient userspace from a directory of a modern system.

Not that afraid about it. It's 2025 anyway and regarding progress in Hardware it should be no problem to run a VM to run any game that might get broken by the update (and maybe they including some stuff themselves as well). Hoping that Win 11 gets a "soonish" rollout so a lot can be tested b4 we come close to the Win 10 Updates Deadline though.

Correction: Windows 10 is the most widely used OS on desktops/laptops/workstations. It is *not* the most widely used in other segments; in particular, it's not nearly as common on either servers (Linux is dominant there) or mobile (Android and iOS are dominant there). (Even the servers and mobile devices that run Windows run an edition that isn't called Windows 10, I believe.)

No I don't agree it is a good thing because they could have handled it as they did in Windows 7, ie. you are still able to enable the support for securom, in case you really need to run some application that relies on it.

They took that option away completely in Windows 10.

While I am unsure if I've found a game that works in Windows 7 but I haven't been able to get run AT ALL on Windows 10... I do have encountered several games that run worse on Windows 10 (than in e.g. Windows 7), and need additional fixes or changes that are not needed in Windows 7. Off the top of my head:

1. Might & Magic 9 (GOG version at least):
- In Windows 10 everything is dark when you dive underwater, you can't really see anything. (There are possibly other similar errors as well, but I didn't test further.)
- The fix: install and use dgVoodoo2 with the game.

2. Icewind Dale 2 Complete GOG (and probably all the other classic Infinity Engine RPGs as well):
- Works pretty ok in Windows 7, while in Windows 10 the movement/scrolling is very jerky and there are other graphical issues.
- The fix: use e.g. DxWnd utility with the game. This pretty much fixes the issues (albeit, oddly, the game still runs better and smoother on e.g. Linux (Wine) on that same PC; go figure...)

3. Geometry Dash (Steam)
- In the fullscreen mode, the game runs butter smooth (60 fps?) on Windows 7 out of the box, while in Windows 10 it runs pretty jerkily, like between 15-30 fps or so (this difference is very visible in this game as it is a very high-reflex action game)
- The fix: fortunately the game also has an option for "windowed fullscreen", which you should use in Windows 10, instead of the true fullscreen mode. I don't know why Windows 10 has this kind of issue with "true fullscreen", and what are all the games affected by that.

So, at least I feel it is incorrect to proclaim that Windows 10 is just as backwards-compatible with older games, as what Windows 7 is/was. There are extra issues that need extra fixes.

Might and Magic 9 GOG vesion has already a wrapper solution bundled inside, it was updated time ago. It uses the homemade ddrawcompat or dgvoodoo2 based homemade wrapper withthe setup dxcfg.exe for configuration. It runs stable, smooth and no gltches at least here. The underwater glitch should have already been fixed.