Following an earlier report that the latest Windows update wasn't installing on devices powered by Intel Atom Clover Trail CPUs, Microsoft has now confirmed that future OS updates for these devices has been canned.
In a statement to The Verge, Microsoft confirmed the what and the why:
"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," explains a Microsoft spokesperson. "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."
It doesn't mean you should throw your old device in the trash, though. Many of these affected machines came out in the Windows 8 era, but there's still life in those old dogs yet.
Microsoft will be offering the Anniversary Update to affected devices, and specifically, will maintain security updates for them through to January 2023. This is much longer than Microsoft will be maintaining security updates for other Anniversary Update machines, with that set to expire in 2018.
