content: There is no annual licensing scheme; this is just fud being spread by the anti windows 10 brigade.  I don't even know why there is an anti windows 10 brigade, all of their apparently major "problems" are non-existent, as they'd realise if they paid a tiny bit of attention to what Windows 10 actually delivers, vs what they've read in clickbait articles. Annual licensing: NOT going to happen.  MS make little money off upgrades, but instead of the sale of OEM and enterprise licenses.  OEMs and Enterprise still have to pay.    Automatic upgrades: well i'm sorry you don't like being patched against vulnerabilities, if so get the pro or enterprise version, otherwise in home use the "defer updates" option to slow down what rollout you're in so that any glaring errors get fixed. My pirated copy of Windows 7/8/whatever will still be inactive if I upgrade to 10.  Just go and buy a license.  Stop pirating stuff you freeloading shits. Tiles in the start menu: guess what, you can remove them if you want, it's like a two-click job. Cortana on the start bar: guess what, you can remove it if you want etc etc etc