Prevent installation on unsupported Windows versions

[senyai]

BPO	38704
Nosy	@pfmoore, @tjguk, @ambv, @zware, @senyai, @zooba, @ZackerySpytz
PRs	bpo-38704: Prevent installation on unsupported Windows versions #17950

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2019-11-05.19:54:38.107>
labels = ['type-feature', 'expert-installation', 'OS-windows', '3.11']
title = 'Prevent installation on unsupported Windows versions'
updated_at = <Date 2021-10-19.23:04:25.319>
user = 'https://github.com/senyai'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-10-19.23:04:25.319>
actor = 'iritkatriel'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Installation', 'Windows']
creation = <Date 2019-11-05.19:54:38.107>
creator = 'senyai'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 38704
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['356055', '356057', '356058', '356131', '360850']
nosy_count = 7.0
nosy_names = ['paul.moore', 'tim.golden', 'lukasz.langa', 'zach.ware', 'senyai', 'steve.dower', 'ZackerySpytz']
pr_nums = ['17950']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue38704'
versions = ['Python 3.11']

[senyai]

This[https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/] page says "Note that Python 3.8.0 cannot be used on Windows XP or earlier.". I tried to install it on Windows Vista and got a message that GetActiveProcessorCount is missing from KERNEL32.DLL. This message appears when running python.exe.
I don't think anyone besides me cares about Vista, so I'd change the text to: "Note that Python 3.8.0 requires Windows 7 or later". It's more positive this way ;)

[senyai]

just tested, CPython 3.7.5 Successfully runs on Windows Vista.

[zware]

Added our 3.8 RM to adjust the download page.

Steve, can or should we adjust the installer to refuse to install on Vista? Is there other documentation we need to adjust?

[zooba]

We can, and we probably should, but it's not a high priority.

Technically the download page is correct, but updating it to specify Windows Vista as the 3.8 cutoff (and for 3.9, Windows 8.1) won't hurt.

[zooba]

Zackery - I left you a comment on the PR.