Microsoft to provide free upgrades to Windows 10 for 2 to 4 years | Computerworld
I've basically been willing to accept that complaints of an impending subscription-based OS are just unfounded cries of anti-Microsoft displeasure. Now, we've got an annoyingly quiet Microsoft posting slides hinting that this might be true. Given the company's total lack of transparency on any aspect of Windows 10 lately, this is definitely something that's going to stop me from upgrading, at least for a while. I have no interest in a subscription-based OS. I'll stick to Windows 8.1 through its support cycle (much longer than the alleged W10 one), and I'd sooner learn Linux than sign up for monthly/yearly fees to use my computer.
If Microsoft even bothered to TRY to explain this away, it wouldn't be AS bad. Instead, there continued silence on things is obnoxious on a good day. Given how half-baked their Windows Phone hardware existence has been (and how it burned many waiting for McLaren, among other things), I've lost a willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt. So, here's hoping Microsoft learns what a P.R. team is for, because I'll be sticking to Windows 8.1 until there's some kind of open explanation of what we're REALLY signing up for.
