As a side note, Windows Server 2025 appears to share the OS base with Windows 11, but it doesn't seem to have the same requirements of CPU/TPM? Or am I wrong? (not that I'm suggesting to use Windows Server as a client OS, especially given its price tag)
I suspect this is because servers have a more predictable refresh cycle than consumer PCs/desktops. While some places run their servers to death, many places (particularly big corps who are generating the most revenue for MS anyway) will retire servers at the end of their warranty period and buy new ones.
Given that, there is not the same need to force hardware updates. That said, it also illustrates how the TPM requirement is a business decision, not a technical one.
Not that it doesn't happen but I've worked in datacenters, including our favorite clouds, and cdn/video architecture for 15 years and have never seen servers replaced on any cadence that wasn't us losing a customer and me sticking a quad core xeon under my desk.
These are $10k-100k+ servers. My multitenant/offload capable NICs are usually $10k-25k themselves.
Same with windows 11 iot eneterprise. It's just the regular Windows 11, but without tpm and specific cpu requirements. Anything core i from intel works
