Windows 10 Version 1607
There are many other examples of 2013/2014/2015-released Intel processors with “End of Interactive Support or EOL”. = Win 10 cannot be upgraded also.? Http(semi colon)//arkdotinteldotcom/products/series/76761/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z-Serieshttp(semi colon)//arkdotinteldotcom/products/series/77772/Intel-Pentium-Processor-G-Serieshttp(semi colon)//arkdotinteldotcom/products/series/90613/Intel-Celeron-Processor-G-SeriesThe first LTSB edition was Win 10 Ent E5 LTSB 2015 which was based on RTM Version 1507 and supported by M$ until 2025. The second Win 10 Ent E5 LTSB 2016, based on Version 1607/Anniversary Update, is supported by M$ until 2026. Win 10 Ent E5 Version 1511 and 1703 cannot be converted to LTSB. The next LTSB Version should be LTSB 2018 (EOL = 2028) which will be based on a 2018 Version of Win 10.
Update 8/16/16: The Windows 10 Anniversary Update has begun rolling out for Windows 10 Mobile. The Anniversary Update includes additional features and improvements for your Windows 10 phone. To manually check for the update, on Start, swipe over to the All apps list, then select Settings Update & security Phone update Check.
Windows 10 Version 1607 To 1803
LTSB editions only receive security updates, ie no feature updates or Version upgrades.So, it does not take much effort for M$ to extend security updates to the affected Intel Atom Clover Trail Win 10 Version 1607 tablets to 2023. It is miserly for M$ to not extend it to 2025, ie the EOL for Win 10, since that is one of the reasons users upgraded from Win 8 to Win 10.
Maybe, M$ should do this for all Versions of Win 10 that can be converted to LTSB(= 10 years of support), ie if the users choose not to upgrade, instead of an EOL of only 18 months.A certain group of new OEM Win 10 computers that came with Version 1703 may also not be upgradeable to the coming Fall Creators Update. Version 1703 is not LTSB. In this rare case, M$ may not be willing to provide an extension as above.P S – Many of these very-cheap OEM Win 10 Intel Atom(eg Bay Trail) 2-in-1 tablets came with only 32GB of eMMC Flash storage and already could not be upgraded because of limited free disk space. After installation, bloated Win 10 occupies about 20+GB of disk space. Cumulative updates often reach 1.0+GB after only a few months. So, people should avoid such tablets like the plague. Morehttp(semi colon)//arkdotinteldotcom/products/series/79666/Legacy-Intel-Core-Processors.http(semi colon)//arkdotinteldotcom/products/series/75025/4th-Generation-Intel-Core-i3-Processors.Many 2009-to-2013-released Intel processors are EOL, which is around the same period when Win 7/8 was released in 2009/2012.
About 400 million Win 7/8/8.1 computers were upgraded to Win 10, either willingly or by hook or by crook. So, such computers with EOL’ed Intel processors running Win 10 should number in the millions. This means such EOL’ed or non-supported-Intel processors may not be upgradeable, just like the Intel Atom Clover Trail tablets being un-upgradeable and stuck at Win 10 Version 1607.The tablets were running fine under Win 8/8.1 and Win 10 Version 1507/1511/1607. The question is, did M$ purposely make the Intel Atom Clover Trail tablets un-upgradeable from Win 10 Version 1607 to 1703.?
If the answer is yes, M$ will likely do the same for other Intel processors which have reached EOL, eg a few batches at a time.Looking ahead, if we buy an OEM Wintel 10 computer today(= 2017), its Intel processor may reach EOL in 2021, ie after 4 years = may not be upgradeable wrt Win 10 Versions = EOL for Win 10 in early 2022. Whereas, the general EOL for Win 10 is 2025. So, this is likely the coming business plan by M$ for ‘Windows 10 as a service’, ie Planned Obsolescence. IOW, M$ will be preventing consumers from using Win 10 Home or Pro for about 10 years, like they used to do with Win XP/Vista/7/8 Consumer editions. It will be 4 to 5 years from now on for Wintel computers running Win 10 Consumer editions before they are EOL’ed, just like what Apple purposely do to their customers’ iPhones and iPads running iOS, ie EOL’ed after 4 to 5 years through yearly iOS Version upgrades.Hopefully, this is not so. @ YuliyaFor clarity, only corporations buying and using Win 10 Ent E5 Volume Licenses can convert to LTSB 2015 or LTSB 2016 which have EOL of 10 years. Of course, pirates who use KMS Emulators can also do so illegally.Consumers using Win 10 Home & Pro Version 1607 cannot convert to LTSB 2016.
So, EOL for them is still 2025 as long as they dutifully upgrade twice-a-year. Corporations buying and using the much cheaper Win 10 Ent E3 VL Version 1607 cannot convert to LTSB 2016 and they cannot avail themselves of free Version upgrades. So, EOL for them is early 2018 unless they have also bought the 3-year-term Software Assurance or Upgrade Insurance. This is not very cost-effective, ie cannot use Win 10 Ent for 10 years without paying extra.Corporations or SMBs who lease or subscribe to Win 10 Ent VL or Win 10 Pro(= Microsoft Business 365) have a perpetual EOL, ie as long as their lease or subscription fees have been paid, similar to Office 365.Can Win 10 subscriptions be pirated as well.?. Not a Microsoft fan, but this is not entirely their fault. Microsoft don’t have time machines, so they probably didn’t know that Intel/PowerVR would drop support for the GPU so very quickly.
This is why I usually go with NVidia GPUs, they support them for an extremely long time. Shame about that time they tricked customers with the memory in the GTX970 though, that makes me not want to ever support NVidia again.Anyway, I guess Microsoft could have looked at the support dates for these Intel/PowerVR chips and refrained from pushing Windows 10 out to them, but realistically, Microsoft can’t be expected to do this for every piece of hardware.
Its up to the manufacturers to support hardware, and its up to consumers to not support those manufacturers who only support hardware for five years, which is indeed an unacceptably short period today for anything other than gamers who demand to play the very latest games at high settings. @ kevinIt is not confirmed that the PowerVR graphics chip caused the upgrade problem. The very proprietary PowerVR graphics chip caused Linux to be uninstallable on the tablet, ie no Linux drivers for it.The affected Intel Atom Clover Trail tablets can run on Win 10 Version 1507, 1511 and 1607 fine but not on Version 1703. Something was changed in Version 1703 which crippled the tablet. So, the problem is likely the new Win 10 Version 1703 not supporting the Atom CT processor.It’s possible that M$ used processor-blocking in Version 1703 against the tablets.
This may be indicated by the error message, ” Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PCUninstall this app now because it isn’t compatible with Windows 10.”The error message when Intel Kabylake processor is being blocked from Win 7/8.1 is,“”Unsupported Hardware: Your PC uses a processor that isn’t supported on this version of Windows and you won’t receive updates.””, which is quite similar. Ed Bott forced Microsoft’s hand. He made it clear that the upgrade to Windows 10 on these systems was a big mistake and Microsoft needed to step up to the plate. Microsoft chose to be silent on this issue for several months while the OEMs misled users – drivers and firmware updates were being looked into – they never were. It was all a ruse.Microsoft made amends because they had to. This was going to get real ugly if they continued to do nothing.
Windows 10 Version 1607 Vs 1703
So under duress they offered a proposal that was palatable (to the users). I wanted to praise them for doing the right thing until I read their response. They blamed Intel. No remorse. What all this likely boils down to is that M$ have aggressively upgraded people on Win 7/8.1 to Win 10 with their GWX marketing campaign and then about 2 years later prematurely EOL’ed their “old” Wintel 10 computers by making them non-upgradeable to new Versions of Win 10. So, the affected ex-Win 7/8.1 users will likely have to buy new computers in 2018/2019(= EOL for Win 10 Version 1607/1703), instead of being able to use their computers until 2020/2023, ie the original EOL for Win 7/8.1. This is like bait-n-switch marketing tactics.Those who have bought new Wintel 10 computers will likely be similarly affected about 4 years down the road, ie they will find their computers non-upgradeable to new Versions of Win 10 “because of unsupported Intel processors”.
Linked examples of 6 years old or older computers running on Win 7/8/10,.http(semi colon)//wwwdotcomputerworlddotcom/article/2526658/operating-systems/windows-7–how-low-can-you-go.html.https(semi colon)//wwwdotyoutubedotcom/watch?v=CDBuhdHNiMs.http(semi colon)//wwwdotpcworlddotcom/article/2951112/hardware/can-your-old-pc-run-windows-10-the-answer-will-surprise-you.html.Hopefully, M$ will continue this tradition of backwards-compatibility with the last Version of Windows. If not, Win 10 may become the last version of Windows, as in becoming extinct like the dinosaurs. In the old days of Win XP computers(released in 2001-), consumers could expect to use Win XP for about 10 years until EOL. There was no real need to upgrade the old Win XP computers to Win 7/8 in 2009/2012 because most computers do not last more than 10 years. Also, it was quite impossible to upgrade old Win XP computers to the 2012-released Win 8 mainly because of the modern hardware requirements of Win 8, eg Intel Pentium M processors could not run Win 8. The 2004-released Intel Pentium M processor could run Win 7. So, some old Win XP computers, if upgradeable to Win 7, could theoretically be used until 2020 = EOL for Win 7 = a total device-life of about 16 years.Similarly, if left alone by M$, old Win 7/8.1 computer(released in 2009-/2013-) consumers could expect to use Win 7/8.1 for about 10 years until EOL in 2020/2023.