You know it's odd. I looked throughout the support section of this website and did not find a quick and easy answer to the types of operating systems ARC runs on. You would think that a software platform would have this information front and center.

My answer is that I have no idea how far back into Windows versions you can go and still have ARC run. I do know that DJ always says to run the latest version of windows or you wont get the latest of features of ARC to work.

I have seen it said that Windows 8 will work but that was a while ago. Try it. I'm sure it will run. However you'll find it to be a frustrating experience. Please upgrade to win 10 if you want everything in ARC to run as expected and as fast as needed.

Unfortunately, we cannot speak for Microsoft and therefore it would be out of scope for Synthiam to list all of the operating systems that Microsoft has discontinued and therefore Synthiam does not support. :)

ARC is efficient and runs on lower-scale PCs on Micorosft Windows 10. Efficiency does not mean that we recommend low-scale PCs for complex or advanced robots, even though the software will run. Unfortunately, we cannot speak for Microsoft. Therefore, it would be out of scope for Synthiam to list all of the operating systems that Microsoft has discontinued, and therefore, Synthiam does not support. Microsoft's only operating system for current mainstream support is Windows 10, which is why it is a world-wide understanding that "running on windows" means "runs on windows 10" since 2015.

Q: Does ARC work on Windows 8? Windows 8 was discontinued for mainstream support by Microsoft on January 9th, 2019. Most ARC features will not be compatible with a discontinued operating system because it no longer receives updates from its author (Microsoft).

Update Your OS for both Security and Usability If a computer is running an older version of Windows prior to Windows 10, we advise upgrading. Since Windows 10 (launched July 29th, 2015) has been the only mainstream OS supported by Microsoft and should be the only operating system you use from Microsoft. Microsoft offers a free upgrade path to Windows 10 by anyone using previous versions of windows. That means upgrading to Windows 10 is free and results in using an operating system that is supported.

New features were not there before and therefore required to use the new feature. ARC uses mainstream new features to make robot programming a positive experience. Also, ARC features involving speech recognition, synthesis, machine learning, etc. will require newer libraries installed with Windows 10.

• Bug fixes are updates that prevent the operating system or program from crashing or misbehaving. ARC's stability is dependent on the latest Windows 10 updates. Synthiam performs rigorous tests on ARC before release and tested with the latest public updates.

• Security updates fix holes that prevent other malicious users from gaining unwanted access to your system. Windows 10 Never Expires

• Windows 10 philosophy is to be an ongoing Operating System that never expires or becomes discontinued. It is through continually updating the operating system with new features, bug fixes, and security updates.

Performance The recommended CPU is an Intel i5 equivalent with 4GB of RAM and Windows 10 or higher. The 3D designer and 3D instruction interface will use video hardware acceleration, if available.

The largest CPU demand will be from video processing options. The largest contributor to video processing CPU usage is high resolution and multiple video processing tracking types. Take this into consideration when selecting a PC.

PS, when you attempt to load ARC on Window 8, you will receive a prompt explaining that it will be unstable and no support can be provided for discontinued operating systems

Thanks DJ.

--Thomas

I think the summary of this conversation is - wow, time sure flies. It still feels like yesterday Windows XP was the cat's meow.

xD You are too funny DJ!

I so miss XP, it was the best one MS ever did :)

Windows XP has a place in my heart for sure! Same with Windows 2000 actually.

But Windows 10 is quite amazing. It never crashes and while the updates are a bit intrusive at times, they add a lot of value. Windows 10 boots faster than any of the previous versions of windows. And it uses hardware acceleration due to supporting some great standard