Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs
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Well the key phrase is ... "supported lifetime of the device" - which means whilst it's being supported .. if the vendor drops support, it's (obviously) no longer supported and therefore I can't see how MS could be held accountable... that's my interpretation anyhow.
It's different to previous Windows versions though. Windows 8.1 will potentially still be supported longer on some of these devices for instance - so if they can support that, why not Windows 10?
I imagine the issue is when new Windows 10 editions come along which change something or reveal a driver bug which the vendor didn't know about. The vendor may not even still be in business.
While Microsoft can't support the hardware for ever, I think the support on the old editions of Windows 10 which work just fine should be longer than indeterminate (but probably less than 2 years) period which seems to be happening now. (Given 1507 went out of support in May).
Sooner or later someone's corporate build will be broken by this sort of issue and they won't be impressed if they have to replace all their kit at relatively short notice.
Extend that support to a fixed period and make it longer (eg. 1607 is supported for 3 more years after the date 1703 came out and revealed a problem) and it would be more reasonable.
Although even then it takes a while to be sure whether or not a problem is terminal or if it can be fixed - witness the fact that 1703 has been out for a few months and this is only just coming to light and still not resolved either way.
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Well the key phrase is ... "supported lifetime of the device" - which means whilst it's being supported .. if the vendor drops support, it's (obviously) no longer supported and therefore I can't see how MS could be held accountable... that's my interpretation anyhow.
Which is what worries me, can you imagine OEM's dropping support for your recently purchased laptop after a year?, No more new drivers, no more new anything, and if Intel and AMD support this model, you will have to buy hardware every year, because you will be exposed to security threads.
Yes, you can just destroy and ditch your PC like nothing, because it was free... oh no... wait... you payed for it... and worse, now you have to pay for another one... like you have no bills to pay, food, and many other things that need your attention...
That is what I fear about that statement, even if the explanations about the CPU's and instruction sets give me a bit of relief, what stops all this monopoly to squeeze money from your pocket? What guarantees my recently purchaced A12-9700 laptop (2016) will not be ditched as well in 2018, because it's lifecycle is done, according to them and not me?
I had a laptop from 2010, served it's purpose, and I bought this one because I needed it, not because MS and the vendors forced me to do so...
I can agree older hardware is dropped in support, that happened with my old laptop, Windows 10 just doesn't work well on it, and VGA drivers suck, that was to be expected, it's a 10 year laptop! But what about this one I have now?
I have very big concerns in this regard... 
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Plain and simple!
HERE is the reason why the hardware is not supported in the future.
Even more plainer and simpler! If your computer is running fine with the installed Windows build and all your hardware is working MS should allow you to only do security updates and not OS and/or driver updates.
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Even more plainer and simpler! If your computer is running fine with the installed Windows build and all your hardware is working MS should allow you to only do security updates and not OS and/or driver updates.
Absolutely this!
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Even more plainer and simpler! If your computer is running fine with the installed Windows build and all your hardware is working MS should allow you to only do security updates and not OS and/or driver updates.
Driver updates are also security updates. Very important.
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Driver updates, "could" be to fix security/integrity issues. I think you'll find most driver updates are feature/compatibility updates. If my hardware is working fine, I'm in no rush to install every new one the OEM kicks out. That's just me though.
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How do you guys think MS will be capable of continuing to develop their core OS features if there are no device drivers? I mean what's the point in making an OS better if it can't run on a device because the device manufacturer does not supply drivers that are compatible with the OS?
MS has to work really tightly together with device driver developers. That is not an easy task, because there are millions of hardware configuration variants.
There is a lot going on under the hood of each and every new Windows iteration. Intel ended it's support for some of it's Atom Z CPUs because those CPUs are not put into any new hardware. They have replacement CPUs of same category that has better internal architecture. Those are still supported by driver updates.
Tough luck if someone purchased a computer a couple of years ago that is now marked as legacy hardware. That's life and it sucks but it is not MS fault that Intel discontinued those CPUs.
You guys have to remember that a CPU is the brain of your computer. Pretty much everything that happens in your computer goes through it. I see it as a security risk if the drivers for those CPUs that require such, are not bug fixed from loop holes. If those CPUs are so darn important, then try to write your own drivers for it and it will certainly run on future Windows too. The Windows Driver SDK is available for everybody so that is not an issue. Intel and MS are certainly NOT going to spend money on something that is pretty much dead.
It is however not an easy task to write drivers, and most of us have no clue where to even begin.
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I bet like the other stated above is a driver compatibility issue Intel no longer has new CPU drivers for them particular CPU as i have went and looked for them they are not existent, now does this mean windows can't use a in house driver for them particular machines i would think not i mean windows could use it system to scan them machines, and install the appropriate driver with the operating system, for those machines only. it is capable of doing so, on install i think this is just a MS mess up and will be fixed, as they are looking into it. every article i have read on it says ms is investigating the issue. so i bet we see a fix for these people in a the coming weeks a head. Before we all start talking about they promised to support it sure they did but for the life of a machine, and the life of the said machine is over, because there are no drivers going forward for the cpu for new operating systems. Thus end of life but i can see ms fixing it, not hard for them to do.
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If my old socket 939 AMD pc which has run faultlessly at the museum restoration workshop where I am one of the volunteers ends up abandoned by Microsoft, I may have to resort to Mint or Ubuntu. It is only used online and with Libre Office.
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