Microsoft Planned to Support Windows 10 Smartphones Till January 2018

Category: Technology

Microsoft has now confirmed that they will provide support to Windows 10 mobile till the end of 2017 for all users. Microsoft has posted an end-of-life date for Windows 10 Mobile, though it raises more questions than it answers. Over at its product lifecycle page, the company has made available the date till which it plans to offer upgrades and security patches to its mobile operating system. As per which, Windows 10 Mobile for Business, Windows 10 Mobile for Consumer users are covered till January 9, 2018. For years, Microsoft sold Windows operating system as a product. Windows 10, which it released earlier this year, is a service, however. The company has previously noted that Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows. It will be interesting to see how it goes about Windows 10 Mobile. "Microsoft will make updates available for the Operating System, including security updates, for a minimum of 24 months after the lifecycle start date. These updates will be incremental, with each update built on the update that preceded it. Customers need to install each update in order to remain supported," the description reads. It gets weirder. Although Microsoft has previously said that Microsoft alone would distribute Windows 10 Mobile updates, with wireless carriers playing just a supporting role, the support document suggests otherwise. “The distribution of these incremental updates may be controlled by the mobile operator or the phone manufacturer from which you purchased your phone, and installation will require that your phone have any prior updates,” it says. (Windows Insiders can always install preview builds without going through carriers, though this increases the risk of running into bugs.) "The distribution of these incremental updates may be controlled by the mobile operator or the phone manufacturer from which you purchased your phone, and installation will require that your phone have any prior updates. Update availability will also vary by country, region, and hardware capabilities." As for other versions, Windows Phone 8.1, which the company rolled out last year will be supported till June 24, 2014. Mainstream support for Windows Phone 7.8 ended last year. All Windows Phone 8 handsets are eligible to get Windows Phone 8.1 firmware update. Windows Phone 8.1 handsets with at least 8GB of internal storage will support Windows 10 Mobile. Media reports this week mentioned January 8, 2019 as the end of support date for Windows 10 Mobile. However, the official page now states it as January 9, 2018, essentially reducing the lifecycle from 36 months to 24 months. It is not known why Microsoft has updated the page. Why this matters: Long-lasting hardware support has been a touchy issue for Windows Phones over the years. Windows Phone 7 was a clean break from the old Windows Mobile, and Microsoft famously abandoned Windows Phone 7 users (and the existing app ecosystem) when it moved to Windows Phone 8. With Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft has repeatedly walked back its upgrade promises for existing phones, and today the only phone running the latest stable operating system are the brand-new Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. With Microsoft’s support document leaving plenty of open questions, Windows phone fans could be reasonably skittish about their upgrade paths from here on. - See more at: http://www.khanstory.com/2015/12/microsoft-planned-to-support-windows-10.html#sthash.9BCBU6qt.dpuf