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Good on them, I guess.
This kind of thing can never be removed from Windows because somewhere there is a Fortune 500 company whose entire IT infrastructure is precariously balanced such that it relies on this obscure feature -- or some other equally rickety legacy Win32/16 API crap -- and if it ever goes away their business will collapse and they'll sue Microsoft for a billion dollars.
Those systems are running frozen versions of Windows, they're not being updated. Microsoft could introduce a patch for Windows 10 and 11 that removes the vulnerability and people running old software on XP would still be able to run it. Or, at the very least, make it disabled by default but let advanced users and sysadmins re-enable the vulnerable code.
That's what they did with SMB 1.0, for instance. It's disabled on any modern Windows install, even though a lot of universities and companies still have infrastructure based on it. If you browse the "advanced system features" options you can re-enable it manually, with the knowledge that you're voluntarily opening up your system to well known dangerous exploits in exchange for backwards compatibility.
EDIT: So further reading that's exactly what they're doing. The drivers aren't loaded by default on Windows 10 and 11, they need to be enabled after plugging a legacy device type requiring it.
What are you talking about? Microsoft constatntly removes and adds features to their software and OS, no one can sue them for it.
Yeah, windows 10/11 has broken a ton of stuff. I have to use RS232 plugs for programming controllers at work, and I had to buy new usb-RS232 cables for all our computers because windows 11 broke support for all the older cables. I've also had a lot of programs break.
It's really frustrating to be trying to troubleshoot if an old controller is working or not, and not know if you can't connect to it because it's fried or if some new windows update is preventing the connection/software from working.
Those cables more than likely were using clone chips and for whatever reason Microsoft decided to back completely banning them when identified.
You'll probably know if your old one is a fake chip because it'll say "not a prolific..." which isn't just a reboot and edit to allow unsigned drivers, it's dead.
What's worse, it's absolutely impossible to tell if the cable you bought has the fake chip since legitimate stores and legitimate cable makers bought them so the loser is people.
Works fine on Mac and Linux though. Naturally.
From what I've read, Microsoft just decided to drop support for the PL-2303HXA/ TA/TB/HXD/RA/SA/EA. Some people report that RA chipsets still work some of the time, but inconsistently.
You can also sometimes forcibly install old drivers, that will continue to work.
Ah sounds like two compounding issues then! I referenced this issue https://www.sleepyponylabs.com/blog/pl2303 since so many cables I had previously, even from the router and switch maker that came with the device, stopped working.
Great to know that there's a whole other bunch of issues around these cables further making life tough for consumers.