Windows 10: Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs

The motherboard architecture and CPU socket are tied to the CPU. Especially so where the Atom is concerned. I do believe its BGA559. Ball Grid Array is surface mount.

 

That's what MS is doing. These machines won't be able to download and install feature updates but will get security updates.

 

That's my thought as well.

 

Thanks for that, Kerry. Had to look it up. I see now that the board is designed for the CPU. And the Ball Grid Array is an interesting automated manufacturing process with the solder beads.

Yes, especially with what Kerry just posted. Definitely not feasible without at least a new MB. All-in-ones may be worth it if the screen is worth saving. Those touch screens are mucho denarii.

 

http://winaero.com/blog/windows-10-anniversary-update-support-2023/

As we wrote recently, owners of devices with Intel Clover Trail CPUs are not able to install Windows 10 Creators Update. But the Anniversary Update version of Windows 10 runs on these devices smoothly. Microsoft confirmed this issue exists because of Intel not supporting these CPUs with the requisite drivers. Microsoft has decided to extend the support of Windows 10 version 1607 until 2023 for these devices.

 

Windows 10 Anniversary Update got extended support till 2023 - Winaero

Well... this calms me... partially, I just hope they don't change their mind. but readng that statement, makes me believe that my current laptop, which came with build 1511, will be supported by a good couple of years? (meaning, it can upgrade to many feature versions...)

Another question comes to my mond, will this support extension be available only for those devices? Will this affect another AU users as well? How will they know or restrict this security extension updates for this devices only?

 

I used to think that was a strange decision too.

However what I read (recently) was that the store did not have the machine set to the manufacturers recommended specifications (i.e. the water temperature was too hot) and therefore that McDonald's store was negligent.

 

WU knows your system specs and downloads appropriate drivers and updates for that particular computer configuration. Those Atom CPUs will be black listed for the newer Windows releases and incompatible drivers, so the upgrades won't even show up in WU for those devices.

 

Well... this calms me... partially, I just hope they don't change their mind. but readng that statement, makes me believe that my current laptop, which came with build 1511, will be supported by a good couple of years? (meaning, it can upgrade to many feature versions...) Sooner or later it will be an issue for devices which shipped with Windows 10. The scenario of a hardware manufacturer not updating a driver could just as easily happen on a device which came with Windows 10. The question is how long will it stay in support once that happens.

All good questions - this extension changes quite a few areas. Another one is whether they will keep supplying 1607 ISOs?

For updates, I imagine/hope they'll just keep providing security updates for any device still on Anniversary Update and not restrict it.
I'm writing this in a laptop which can't currently run Creators' Update due to a different hardware incompatibility with an old driver, although I believe a fix is on the way for the '1709' Update. But if Microsoft don't fix the driver issue I would also be stuck on Anniversary Update on a different hardware spec and grateful for an extension to updates.

 

Lets hope they don't go as arbitrary as stopping support just the time they please (like, I please to stop releasing drivers for a perfectly cappable PC a year after I relese it, or a GPU, just to make you buy another thing next year). The security updates at least is a good step forwards...

Thanks for your thoughts @DavidY ^^

 

My ASUS laptop shipped with Windows 8.0. The free upgrade to 8.1 happened shortly after I got it. There was one or two 8.1 drivers released for it by ASUS. Then the free upgrade to 10. ASUS didn't release any drivers for it for Windows 10. I'm on my own. It works perfectly fine though in Windows 10. I had way more issues when Windows 10 first came out than I do these days, hardware wise. Drivers from AMD have finally caught up and are stable. It's an AMD A-10 with AMD / AMD switchable graphics. Everything on it works just fine with the Windows update supplied drivers, YMMV of course. I don't game on it so I'm fine with those drivers. The OEM's, as near as I can see, are in no big hurry to release new drivers for devices that didn't ship from the factory with said OS installed. My laptop never shipped from ASUS with Windows 10. They would rather I buy a new Windows 10 device.

There will likely be two scenarios depending on what bit of kit isn't supported. You upgrade but that piece of hardware doesn't work, WIFI for example. It's not integral to the functioning of the PC. The other scenario is a blocked upgrade because the hardware that's not supported is integral to a fully functioning PC. Chip-Set, CPU, etc. Stuff that would cause a BSOD if you upgraded.

This free for forever upgrades is new ground for Microsoft. And Windows 10 is just getting old enough that old hardware is starting to be an issue. I think the idea was to get everybody onto the one OS so they would (eventually) only have to support one OS. Once end of life came for Windows 7 and 8 there would only be Windows 10. It may backfire on them and they end up in an almost similar situation as it is now. Instead of having to support Windows 7, 8 and 10, it will be Windows 10 1604, 1703, 1709, etc, etc. Still may be easier, but I don't think that's what they planed or wanted?

 

MS is supporting more versions of Windows than ever before.

We can see that was just another example of misleading statements by MS about W10.
It seems obvious now that MS (in cahoots with AMD and Intel) was planning to cut off machines regularly.

That's why AMD & Intel went along with that whole Kaby Lake/Ryzen fiasco.

 

I do believe you are right but it could be even more of a muddle. They have now said they will support 1607 with security updates for 6 years instead of 2 but "we will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023

Microsoft agrees to extend support deadline for Clover Trail PCs | ZDNet

 

You can read all kinds of things from "those specific devices". I have no idea if that means, only those devices get updates, or anybody (stuck on) still running the AU?

 

I take it to mean that the two year support applies for all devices running the AU, as these are upgradable to the later builds. If you have one of the affected devices then it will be treated as an LTSB Licence and supported for the extended Six years