I just had a rather unpleasant thought. Given how ham-fisted MS has been with its various voluntary-but-not-really upgrades to Win10, and its view that you don’t really own the OS on your laptop (at least if it’s Windows):
What if MS decided that, just before the deadline for the “free” upgrade, they would generate a very obfuscated popup dialog giving you one last chance to opt out of the upgrade (Do you not not not not not not want to purchase Win10?).
Then, after the deadline passes, if you didn’t opt out properly, MS “assumes” you really did want to buy Win10, downloads it to your machine and installs it, and then leaves you stranded at the “enter license key” screen.
Oh, sure, they’d “acknowledge” the hardship they imposed, and provide irate users with a utility that would enable them to retrieve their documents and other files, but after all, it’s “your” fault that Win10 is on there now (you didn’t say no), and you didn’t upgrade when it was free, so you must have decided to buy, and since they only license the OS to you, they can do whatever they want to it. Then, after several months of backlash, they’ll “grudgingly” provide a utility to let you downgrade again, though it won’t work all that well (20% failure rate). Most people will just give up and pay the fee.
Ya never know... Nothing surprises me any more, from ANY of the computer companies.