Candy crush FORCES updates now

Not sure what you mean. The Candy Crush app is only available for win 10 and 11 and neither is EOL. That is why I asked about Facebook. If you can play on Facebook and win 7/8 that is completely different than either playing on mobile or the win app.

Also, as I said, it could simply be for updates to the game engine that would make the old version "incompatible" with the stuff on King's side. This can come in two flavours:

1. IE 5-8 vs 9+ vs Edge. When coding for a browser many times devs would have to have special code for older versions. Eventually it was not worth the time and effort to support them. The OS' on the devices are no different. There might be tons of legacy code to support OS version x that .0001% of people use. It is not worth it, especially, it restricts general performance upgrades for 99% of the user base.
2. Deprecation. The libraries needed to support the libraries King has to support old versions of OS' might no longer exist so they are required to use old libraries with known vulnerabilities.

I had a longer post but the forum is being the forum and I have no patience to figure out what pissed it off this time.

You seem to be implying

Yes, yes I am.

I am implying

If you mean being able to still use them unrelated to Candy Crush? Yes of course you can, you are not passing data to King's servers with them as they cannot play candy crush. Facebook is its own platform.

I am not sure if that…

Don't forget that anti-cheat software and security patches and such are all part of security. Forcing an update forces everyone to get the software/fixes and makes the game more secure and helps with issues and attacks on King's servers.

So it is most likely a security update and might well also be an update to allow for more stable code. Both always result in older OS/browsers being dumped.

No, I am just pointing out the double standards if Microsoft is involved with this 'update'

Not a double standard.

Think of it this way, you can have win 7 and 8 at home, we cannot use that at work. It is 10 and up, mostly everything is now moving to 11.

Also when I say security I mean on the business side. What you want to do with your home computer is your business. Microsoft is not saying to have to update your OS, they are saying you cannot connect to Kings' (their) servers with an out of date game and/or OS.

Don't forget @PyroIllumination there is no anti-cheat software, at least not from what we have seen so far. I understand your point though.

There likely is, anti cheat software, see next post for note on this as the forum is being difficult, will exist on the servers and at times on a device. Depending on the intent and strength the end user will almost never see it. It might be an extra process in the list of hundreds already running. Snail (warthunder) on the other hand has VERY aggressive anti cheat software.

I would say it leads to older OS/browsers being no longer supported rather than being dumped, which is how King has managed older OS versions until now. It doesn't normally lead to the wholesale dumping of players that use older versions though.

As I say, on the business side Microsoft is very aggressive when it comes to security. I am a programmer so I really only see the edges of it, all updates we get for Win 10/11 are forced, but I know a lot of old "servers" were fired directly into the sun and policy was changed rather dramatically.

Also my God the forum is trying to mangle my posts

Not a double standard @PyroIllumination

Of course it is. Where you are using it doesn't matter in this scenario. The fact that Microsoft allow users to continue to use Windows 7 & 8 without support but see fit to prevent users of older versions of Candy Crush from playing is the epitome of double standards.

I am implying that there must be more to it than that as Windows 7 & 8 are no longer supported but the 3% of global desktop users that still use Windows 8 aren't getting pestered to update and then prevented from using Windows 8 if they don't.

Are yo talking about the OS itself? That people can still use Windows 7 at home just as an OS unrelated to Candy Crush? Ya and many new applications do not work on those OS'. Anyway it is also completely unrelated to the discussion at hand as you cannot play Candy Crush on those OS' and Facebook is its own platform.

I am not sure if that is any clearer to be honest. I am just saying if Microsoft are forcing people with old versions of Candy Crush to update regardless of whether their OS system is compatible with the game update then I think there is more to it than security.

Which is why I said there could be more to it. If they are updating the engine the old OS' might not support it or be too tedious to support.

But back to security. Generally if the OS is compatible, it is due to security that an upgrade is required. Just because you can technically still play the game does not mean it is not Swiss cheese security wise.

Additionally as part of this, we know from a few examples, the new version has minimum requirements higher than the OS, thus an OS upgrade would be needed.

Finally there could be more security/anti cheat stuff added to the game code, which requires code changes, which they want everyone to use meaning they are forcing people to update.

Security is the number one reason applications require forced updates, legacy code/performance is number two.

Knowing Microsoft I suspect this is a security upgrade, otherwise it might just be a code upgrade to try to clean up a lot of the issues or both.