On Aug 31, 2017, at 4:46 AM, Brian's Mail list account via Groups.Io <bglists@...> wrote:

I did point out to Mick that this has been handled badly, as I seem to have been the first to encounter a complete bricking of an xp machine. Its not so much that I mind it happening myself, as obviously we all see fewer and fewer pieces of software allowing use on XP/Vista, but to me, before the pointer had been moved, it should have been [publicised, Indeed, it would have been best to only move Next.
I wonder if there is perhaps some leeway here?
For example, the last Master to support XP could be made into the last version supporting it via some subtle name change, ie nvda20017.3XP, which would be the very last one for xp and kept separate.
Of course if anyone out there with a significant investment in keeping nvda going on XP etc, wanted to make special versions, then I'm assuming that would be fine as long as they themselves handled any security and other reliability and translation issues.
Similarly, add ons that will still run on old versions should be flagged. I'm quite happy if pointed at the right links to test things in XP machines.
Of course this also means that the later versions of NVDA will probably not have the switch that allows them to run on old processors that do not have the sse2 instruction set either.
Could I also ask that versions of snaps running on xp, ie if somebody tries to download one that may not work, be made to just display a message?
The current crash may well brick the machine as it kind of locks things up with no speech till you can get rid of the error box.
Spotting this in the loader should be possible???

Just a few ideas.
Brian

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----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Lee" <joseph.lee22590@...>
To: <nvda@nvda.groups.io>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2017 5:49 AM
Subject: [nvda] Important announcement: NVDA 2017.3 is the last version to support Windows versions prior to 7 and Server 2008 R2 service pack 1

Dear NVDA community:



If you are using one of the following Windows versions, please read the
following statement from NV Access (just published):



* Windows XP
* Windows Server 2003
* Windows Vista
* Windows Server 2008
* Windows 7 without service pack 1



The announcement link:

https://www.nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2017-4-drops-support-for-older-operating-
systems/



Background: for a number of years, NV Access and other developers received
tons of reports about browse mode not being available when you restart NVDA
while using Firefox and some browsers. NV Access wrote a fix for it, but it
used a routine not found in older operating systems (specifically, Windows
XP). Porting the new routine is costly, especially when developers cannot
guarantee that it'll work for everyone. Because the fix impacts many people,
coupled with the support status of the Windows versions listed above,
coupled with the fact that Firefox and some popular programs ended support
for old Windows releases (including some screen readers), NV Access has
decided to end support for old Windows releases with NVDA 2017.3. 2017.3
will still be made available for download for people who need to use old
Windows versions.



Thus, the following advisory from the community is in effect:



* If you are using Windows versions listed above, turn off automatic
NVDA updates (NVDA menu/Preferences/General, then uncheck the update
checkbox).
* For those using some add-ons, read follow-up advisories regarding
support for old Windows releases from add-ons from add-on writers (for those
using add-ons such as Resource Monitor, I will publish an advisory next
week).



Thank you.

Cheers,

Joseph