Future version of Windows?

Mystere said:

Version 1703 has the end of life stated in the article. There is a new version set to be released in the fall, called the Fall Creators Release (or Redstone 3). That will get a new end of life once it's released. These are more like service packs than full new releases.

However the end of life date shown on that page for 1703 is the same as it was for 1507/10240.
If the end of life was changing as you suggest, one would expect the date for 1703 to be almost 2 years later than it was for 1507.
(In fact I did expect this until they changed the version mentioned on that page from 1507 to 1703 when that was released, without moving the date.)

Edit: What's more an issue for me is that a new version of Windows 10 can break compatibility with certain hardware, and suddenly you only have 2 years of support or less for that machine. I have a machine which won't run Creators' Update because they broke compatibility with a Broadcom driver. Microsoft have said they have a fix, but they could easily have abandoned that hardware, and I expect that will start to happen.
(In which case I might have been better off reverting to Windows 8.1 which could well be supported longer than Windows 10.)

Barman58 said:

Of course, It's bad when drivers do not work with a new version of an OS, but this sort of compatibility is Not a Microsoft Issue. Microsoft does not write drivers for anything other than their own hardware. Microsoft makes the OS available In sufficient time for hardware manufacturers to adapt or re-write Drivers in time for release.

But it is Microsoft's changes to support policy which means a machine can unexpectedly go out of support with less than 2 years life (based on 1507 which is less than 2 years old but already out of support).

With say Windows 7, you pretty much knew that if a machine worked with Windows 7, it would keep working until Windows 7 went out of support. Now, with every update, your machine could be made obsolete and only supported for a short period.

I agree Microsoft shouldn't support old hardware for ever where the hardware manufacturers have stopped updating the drivers, but less than 2 years is too short a period to suddenly drop hardware out of support - 5 years would be more reasonable.

Barman58 said:

Of course, It's bad when drivers do not work with a new version of an OS, but this sort of compatibility is Not a Microsoft Issue. Microsoft does not write drivers for anything other than their own hardware. Microsoft makes the OS available Insufficient time for hardware manufacturers to adapt or re-write Drivers in time for release. Most manufacturers are perfectly compliant with this but some have in the past decided to use this as an excuse to push sales of newer products or for other reasons not been able to comply with the agreement they signed to be awarded "works with" or Designed For" Windows nnn logo

The issue with the EOL date could just be a compliance Issue, they are providing one EOL as they have always done, under the current practice and at some time in the future the whole system will be revised and a rolling EOL will be created for the new sales/technical model

I disagree with this. Drivers are part of the OS and you get them via the Microsoft website (they are auto-downloaded). If Microsoft says that its OS is supported until 2025; you can expect it to work on the same hardware until 2025 and receive security updates. Who in the end write the drivers is not relevant to the end user. It is well the responsibility of Microsoft to support it's full OS (including the drivers) up to the end of the support date they announce. I expect a hardware "made for Windows 10" or compatible with "Windows 10" to works with it as long as it is Windows 10.

alphanumeric said:

The drivers delivered via Windows update are supplied to Microsoft by the OEM's. Microsoft offers them via Windows update as a curtesy. Microsoft is in no way obligated to update those drivers or ensure newer updated drivers are available via Windows update. It's the OEM's responsibility to submit newer drivers to Microsoft for delivery via Windows Update. The only exception is drivers for actual Microsoft branded hardware. And even then, they are not obligated to ensure that model X is supported indefinitely just because it works with this build of Windows 10.

With the current version of Windows, they get installed when you install Windows and downloaded via the Microsoft website; this is even done without further notice. I think it is reasonable to consider that anything that gets installed when you install Windows is part of Windows and part of what you have purchased. Microsoft is responsible for what it sells, not what it writes.