Microsoft agrees to extend support deadline for Clover Trail PCs

[Batu69]

Microsoft confirmed today that PCs using Intel's Clover Trail CPUs will be blocked from Windows 10 upgrades. But in a major change of the "Windows as a Service" policy, those devices will continue to get security updates.

Some three- and four-year-old PCs are unable to install the latest Windows 10 update

 

Microsoft finally broke its silence on the status of devices built on the Intel Clover Trail CPU family.

Owners of those devices who had taken advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade offer discovered recently that those PCs were unable to upgrade to the Windows 10 Creators Update, released in April 2017.

 

In an e-mailed statement, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed today that no software fix is on the way. But in a major shift in its "Windows as a Service" policy, Microsoft agreed to continue delivering security updates to those devices for another six years. Under the existing policy, those security updates would have ended in early 2018.

 

The full statement follows:

With Windows 10, we introduced Windows as a Service, a model for continuous value delivery via twice annual feature updates and monthly quality updates. Along with this updated delivery cadence, we adjusted our support lifecycle policies to reflect the Windows as a Service model. Recognizing that a combination of hardware, driver and firmware support is required to have a good Windows 10 experience, we updated our support lifecycle policy to align with the hardware support period for a given device. If a hardware partner stops supporting a given device or one of its key components and stops providing driver updates, firmware updates, or fixes, it may mean that device will not be able to properly run a future Windows 10 feature update.

 

This is the case with devices utilizing Intel Clover Trail Atom Processors1 today: they require additional hardware support to provide the best possible experience when updating to the latest Windows 10 feature update, the Windows 10 Creators Update. However, these systems are no longer supported by Intel (End of Interactive Support), and without the necessary driver support, they may be incapable of moving to the Windows 10 Creators Update without a potential performance impact.

 

We know issues like this exist and we actively work to identify the best support path for older hardware. As part of our commitment to customers, we will be offering the Windows 10 Anniversary Update to these Intel Clover Trail devices on Windows 10, which we know provides a good user experience. To keep our customers secure, we will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023, which aligns with the original Windows 8.1 extended support period.

The affected devices include those running Intel Atom Processors Z2760, Z2580, Z2560, Z2520. Analysts estimate that at least 10 million of those devices, primarily hybrid PCs and small tablets, were sold in 2013 and 2014 as part of the first wave of Windows 8 devices.

 

If you own a PC with one of the now-unsupported CPUs, you can install the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, but that's the end of the line. That device will be blocked from installing any further feature updates but will continue to receive reliability and security fixed in what Microsoft calls "quality updates," which are delivered on the second Tuesday of every month.

 

This policy change throws a very large monkey wrench into the "Windows as a Service" machine. If the idea was to gradually but inexorably move Windows customers to current versions, reducing the support burden to a handful of recent releases, this decision undermines that goal considerably.

 

To check whether your device contains one of the unsupported processors, see Windows 10 no longer supported? How to tell if your PC is eligible for latest version.

 

Article source

[steven36]

So they changed  there mind and decided too give security updates too these  tell 2023 when Windows 8.1 runs out of updates with no more upgrades?  There still being ripped off on updates by 2 years  that's only 8 years of updates and they could of not  upgraded these windows 8.1 machines at all and got updates this long . What was the point in upgrading? You battled through years of bugs when you could of been on a stable version of windows all along that gets updates just as long.    

 

By October 13, 2020 according too Windows lifecycle fact sheet everyone who got free windows 10 will no longer be able too get upgrades no more,  but are they going too decide to cut updates short on more PCs hardware  every time they release a new version of Windows 10 ? This is what is concerning to PC consumers. The thing about these PCs  there netbooks  and can't be upgraded very much.  Still it's better than if you want too do a upgrade and they blacklist because you if you use old windows .

 

Think God Linux don't have these problems there are some using Linux Mint 18 and other distros  with Pentium 4 processers .. On my AMD Windows 8 machine one time i couldn't upgrade the Ubuntu distros for a whole year because of Display drivers .But I could use Manjaro witch had patched drivers and a year latter they didn't blacklist my machine  AMD fixed it for good by getting better display drivers built into the Linux Kernel like Intel has for a very long time.  But on Windows they never fix nothing  you just have too use outdated drivers once the decide too drop support .  

[steven36]

 

Quote

 

Microsoft 'Confirms' Windows 10 Has Seriously Nasty Surprise

 

Right now Windows 10 is undergoing a massive upgrade to the so-called ‘Creators Update’. But suddenly MicrosoftMSFT -0.16% has confirmed millions of Windows 10 users will never get it…

Speaking to PC World, Microsoft said that despite pledging Windows 10 feature updates until October 13th 2020, this will now depend on users running relatively modern hardware. In short: if a manufacturer stops supporting your hardware at any point then Microsoft may not longer upgrade your version of Windows 10.

 

“Recognizing that a combination of hardware, driver and firmware support is required to have a good Windows 10 experience, we updated our support lifecycle policy to align with the hardware support period for a given device,” Microsoft said in a statement.

 

 

“If a hardware partner stops supporting a given device or one of its key components and stops providing driver updates, firmware updates, or fixes, it may mean that device will not be able to properly run a future Windows 10 feature update.”

 

And the result of a device or component no longer being supported is severe. When updating users will simply receive the message: “Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC”.

And to make matters worse, at present Windows 10 will not tell users which piece of hardware is responsible for the cancellation. A user will have to check every part of their PC, from the processor and RAM to the hard drive, graphics and network card.

 

This brutal (and frankly over generalised) decision follows in the wake of Microsoft blocking Windows 10 Creators Update upgrades for computers using older Intel Atom ‘Clover Trail’ processors without warning or explanation. Conversely it also said new Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Ryzen silicon will also be made incompatible with older versions of Windows to force them onto Windows 10.

The case of the former is particularly troubling as having infamously pushed users to upgrade to Windows 10, these Clover Trail PCs were then cut off from getting new features just two years later. And with each new Windows 10 upgrade more hardware will be sidelined - as it stands - without any warning. It’s a very nasty situation.

 

No doubt many Windows 10 upgraders would have been scared away had these rules been made clear at the time, but Microsoft did offer one olive branch: it will continue to provide cut-off Windows 10 PCs with security updates until January 2023. This is 2.5 years before the end of the official support (October 14th 2025), but it’s something.

 

Ultimately I think this is a cheap trick from Microsoft. Never before did old versions of Windows exclude PCs from upgrades if they were deemed powerful enough to run that version of Windows at launch.

 

 

This also places greater pressure on users to upgrade their PCs if they want to keep receiving new features, something that’s unfair given most PCs can run Windows 10 to a perfectly functional level. It also provides Microsoft with an easy excuse to reduce update optimisation if it knows it can cut-off older PCs each time.

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Windows 10 is a fantastic idea in theory, but it’s execution leaves a lot to be desired…

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2017/07/27/microsoft-windows-10-upgrade-free-problems-specs/

 

[steven36]

Quote

 

Microsoft has confirmed that millions of recent laptops will no longer receive updates to add new features to Windows 10.

 

Laptops running on Intel Atom 'Clover Trail' chipsets will not receive any Windows 10's feature updates post the Anniversary Update, issued in summer last year.

 

Despite most of these machines only being three or four years old, Microsoft says it is unable to push these updates to 'Clover Trail' laptops, due to Intel ceasing support for the chipset.

 

Machines that will no longer receive these updates include those running on Intel Atom Z2760, Z2580, Z2560 and Z2520 processors, such as the HP Envy X2 laptop. TechRepublic's sister site ZDNet reports that at least 10 million of these devices were sold in 2013 and 2014, according to analyst estimates.

 

While these laptops were sold with older operating systems, primarily Windows 8, many will have taken advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 that Microsoft pushed so heavily onto users.

 

 

Ahead of the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft's executive VP of the Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson said: "Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device - at no cost. With Windows 10, the experience will evolve and get even better over time."

 

The issue in the case of Clover Trail PCs is that the laptops' supported lifetime has effectively ended, says Microsoft.

 

"If a hardware partner stops supporting a given device or one of its key components and stops providing driver updates, firmware updates, or fixes, it may mean that device will not be able to properly run a future Windows 10 feature update," says a Microsoft spokesman.

 

 

"This is the case with devices utilizing Intel Clover Trail Atom Processors today: they require additional hardware support to provide the best possible experience when updating to the latest Windows 10 feature update, the Windows 10 Creators Update.

 

"However, these systems are no longer supported by Intel (End of Interactive Support), and without the necessary driver support, they may be incapable of moving to the Windows 10 Creators Update without a potential performance impact."

 

While feature updates will not be forthcoming, Microsoft has pledged to continue issuing security patches to these machines until January 2023, the end of the original Windows 8.1 extended support period.

 

ZDNet's Ed Bott, who first reported on the Windows 10 update issue, says this decision to continue issuing security fixes for devices stuck on the Anniversary Update build of Windows 10 will increase the support burden upon Microsoft.

 

 

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/windows-10-updates-millions-of-recent-laptops-will-stop-receiving-new-features-confirms-microsoft/

 

[DKT27]

I wonder if all this is limited to laptop CPUs or desktop CPUs too.

[steven36]

According Microsoft fact sheet  they suppose too had supported upgrades too all PCs that got windows 10 until 2020.. There are many boxes that are really fast were the vendor have dropped Driver updates on windows . Many older AMD Radeon boxes no longer get driver updates they drop support on them with the end of AMD Catalyst when Windows 10 1st came out TH1 only I could find working beta drivers for my PC the ones on Windows updates are broke.

 

After the 2nd release  of Windows 10 TH2 AMD finally gave Microsoft updates a working install of drivers but there old ones and never updated since and it downloads the same drivers  from Th2 -Redstone 2 and Redstone 2 worked with these old AMD Catalyst drivers . When i put Windows 8.1  back in  I ran into the same problem that I ran into with the 1st version of windows 10 with driver updates from Windows  but there are plenty of older working AMD Catalyst drivers can be found for Windows 8.1 so i went this route and installed them myself .

 

All the issues  Microsoft went trough too try and force free windows 10 upgrades on most back in  2015-2016 making it work on old hardware .  Now they are blacklisting millions of PCs  they forced and PR Windows 10 on too it's  users . This is just the 1st batch of processors blacklisted on windows 10 by 2020 they most likely will have made most old vista trough windows 8.1 hardware obsolete with upgrades every 6 months .

 

Linux still gives open source driver updates for AMD and Intel built into the kernel  and there are 2 PPAs  were you can get even better optimized drivers for cards that vendors  have dropped on Windows. But most windows users are not tech savvy enough too just use Linux . they install it and the 1st issues they have they run back too Microsoft a crying even though Linux is more suited for older hardware.

 

Actually my old  2012 AMD Radeon Gateway box runs circles around my 2015 Intel Dell Mini Tower with  full Windows 10 support . So all newer hardware is not faster than older hardware only boost you may see is in gaming or if you have 2016 or 2017 HW  you may get a little boost in 4k and hevc support . But for people who don't game or are happy watching 1080p or less this is not worth buying a New PC for.

 

So what does Windows 10 have that makes them have too blacklist old hardware on PCs ? Windows 10 sure is not faster than Windows 7 or Windows 8.1..  I try too tell people it's best not too fool with changing OS on non supported PCs  and if you do, it's best too have a backup plain to go back too you're  original OS.  I just put Windows 8.1 back on my old Gateway box and by the time 2023 rolls around ether this PC will have quit working or it's not  I'm sure not going too stick Windows 10 from 2023 on it by then they will want more money too be legit  ..I will just make it a Linux box .. There is no future using Windows 10 on old hardware that is not supported by the vendor .