I've stayed with Windows 7 as I watched puzzled others turning on their PCs to discover that somehow it's turned into Windows 10 even if they thought they said "No."

Of great interest in your article: a respectable seasoned commentator proposes Linux as an option for those who want to maintain control. Granted it's presented as an extreme option and the same sort of MS fanbois who support everything MS here will come up with a galaxy of slogans against this geek OS they've never used, but it does matter when people who value their reputations and industry relationships, are seriously talking about Linux for end users.

Suggestion to Linux newbies: download one of the latest distros and install on one of those old doorstop machines no longer powerful enough for Windows. Too difficult? Nope. You'll be surprised.