Microsoft has taken a further step in it's current campaign to force it's latest os on unsuspecting users:
ReferenceOnly devices on the Skylake support list will be supported on Windows 7 and 8.1. And even then only through July 17, 2017. “During this new 18-month support period, these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving support after the period ends,” Microsoft says. “After July 2017, the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed for these configurations, and will be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.”
But here’s what this means in the real world: Microsoft is not actually supporting Skylake generation hardware for Windows 7 and 8.1 at all. And that’s because there isn’t a business on earth that would go to the trouble of deploying on Skylake hardware now only to have to upgrade to Windows 10 in the near future. The net result is that only Windows 10 isreally supported on Skylake, e.g. on new hardware.
Put another way, this isn’t Microsoft building Windows 7/8.1 “support” for Skylake. This is Microsoft building a guaranteed upgrade for Windows 10. In other words, this is more of the same: Microsoft pushing customers to Windows 10 by any means necessary.