I run most games on my laptop with Vista 64, but I keep around an old legacy PC with Windows 2000 on it, largely because I have an old copy of Logic Audio (music sequencer) that was really expensive when I bought it back in 2000 and won't work on any OS from XP on. I also use this PC for playing old games on Steam that don't work on Vista. My laptop is in the shop at the moment, so I fired up my old PC. I get a message that says that Steam will no longer work on my machine after August 31st. It tried to update and I cancelled the update because of that message. Supposedly, if I allow it to update, Steam will no longer work on my Win2k machine. I'm kinda pissed.
If I bought these games on disc, they would always work on my Win2K machine, but since I bought them on Steam and the Steam client auto-updates with no way to turn off the auto-update (as far as I can tell, please correct me if I'm wrong) I will not be able to play my games on this machine. This seems kind of bullshit to me, since quite a few of the games you can buy on Steam won't work on Vista or Windows 7. Whenever I've bought games that didn't work on my Vista 64 machine, I could often count on my Win2k machine to play them. Now, if I don't cancel the update fast enough each time I load Steam, that may no longer be an option for me. It seems kind of crappy to me that they can stop supporting their client for older operating systems, but still sell games that don't really work without an older operating system. I'm just frustrated. Thanks for listening to me rant.
At least there is still GOG. Blessed GOG.

Offline mode might be a way of avoiding Steam updates. They're otherwise unavoidable. I don't know if there's a limit to how long you can run Steam in offline mode though.
Also: is it that Steam will cease to function on Win 2K following the update? Or is it simply that they'll no longer offer support for it and it's possible that the client may no longer work on that platform?

I was under the impression they killed off Windows 2000 support years ago. Which kinda sucked because Windows 2000 was the best OS I had ever used. Also, you don't need to update Steam to run it? No idea you could do that.

I don't know of any games for sale on Steam that don't work on Vista/7. Manhunt says it doesn't, but a fan patch makes it work.

I hate to say it, but Windows 2000 day has past,. It is like Win 98; fewer and fewer programs will support it.

True, but you shouldn't tie all your games to a service which will one day not run on an otherwise fine OS. What if one day you want to keep an old Win7 machine because Win12 sucks at running games from 2010, but you bought all your games on Steam and they don't support Win7 anymore?
It's just another example of how Steam makes me feel like my purchases will not last.

Termination is very different to not supporting.
jungletoad: Is System Restore implemented in 2k? I didn't use it for long enough to find out. Create a restore point just in case Steam does update.

It doesn't have System Restore.

You can't expect them to keep suporting obsolete operating systems forever. They would be throwing money away for the very small percentage of steam users using win2k. Why not at least switch to xp? A platform far better suited for gaming than 2000 which was not built with gaming as a main focus at all.

yes, but i feel the same way when I look at GOG and i want to install my games on windows 3.11

If you use Windows 2000, stop buying games and save up for a new OS. Seriously.
And anyone saying Valve should apparently make sure their client supports an OS more than a decade sold...yeah, sorry, that's silly.

The easiest solution to your problem would be to make that old win2k machine dual boot XP and win2k. That way you still have your legacy sound software and still be able to use steam on it.

I knew that something is wrong! I can't run Steam on my Commodore 64. I guess I will need to install older version of Steam client. Where was that tape...

As I don't buy any game on Steam, I have no problem.
Just throw away Steam.