husker
I pay close attention to MS, as I'm a corporate IT guy.  This is just another service the MS will be offering, and will not affect 99.9% of Windows users.  See:
 
https://www.howtogeek.com/360938/no-microsoft-isnt-turning-windows-10-into-a-paid-subscription-service/

Good article. Thanks for that.
 
If MS would include a Win10 5 license deal along with Office 365 ( which I have a sub) for about the same price, I would jump on it!!

Ardour and Harrison Mixbus (which is based on it) work on Linux.

azslow3
Windows 7-8 will be "out of service" relatively soon

Not available, but not unsupported - I don't believe corporate customers would stand for that.  My last gig (as a software engineer) was with a fortune 250 company.  I retired a little over four years ago and we had just switched to Win 7 maybe a year before that.  Upgrading to a new OS costs mega bucks when a company has tens of thousands of machines to upgrade.  It's not the software cost, it's testing every friggin' application that all the employees rely upon.  This is *very* expensive.
 
I would be surprised if Win 7 is taken off MS support sooner than three years from now at the earliest.  I should be seeing a few of my former colleagues sometime in Sept. and will learn where they are currently are with respect to upgrading from Win 7.  I am extremely interested to find this out.  Both my home machines are Win 7 and I have absolutely no desire to move to a "better" OS.

I switched to Linux as the primary OS on my DAW a couple of months ago. I set it up as dual boot Xubuntu/Win7 with the idea that Win7 extended support officially ends in January of 2020, and just like XP I expect that M$ will follow through and stop supporting it on the day they say they will.
 
Anyway, my plan has long been to dual boot, and eventually take Win7 totally offline, and use the Linux side to do everything except music and video production. Since moving to Linux, I also started playing around with REAPER for Linux, just for kicks.
 
To my surprise, the Linux version is more usable than I expected, although the Windows version is still more efficient and is more compatible with VST/VSTi plugins. That said, I'm using the Linux version of REAPER on a song I'm working on currently, and may eventually move it to the Windows side of the house to finish it up if I need some plugins I haven't got working in Linux.
 
Here's a screenshot with some of what I have working in Linux right now.
 

I agree with dmbaer on the high cost of upgrading for many corporations.  I'm a retired Regional LAN/WAN Network and Hardware Help Desk Manager.  Along with upgrading software, hardware, in many cases, will also have to be upgraded.  Training is a major expense.  But ultimately all will update at some point.  I worked for a US Federal Government Agency and they got special Microsoft on site support and a support extension ($$$) for their "NT 4.01" systems but the extension really gave them a chance to evaluate and integrate an upgraded OS and upgraded/compatible application software. 
 
Back to Win 10 and possible subscriptions.  I'm also in the Windows "insider" program and get advanced versions of Win 10 Pro.  So far everything that I need, such as Sonar, iLok, etc all work on the insider versions.  If they keep that program I won't really need the $$ version. 

To go with the pic I posted two posts earlier, here's an example of using native Linux REAPER in Xubuntu, with Toontrack EZ-Drummer with Drumkit From Hell, Native Instruments B4 Organ and FM-7 Synthesizer, Oberheim OB1 and Arp String Ensemble VSTi's, sampled brass, trumpet, saxes, and baritone sax, short scale Gretsch Jr. Jet electric bass, Fender Strat, and Gibson L6S Midnight Special guitars.
 
It's titled ZooBooN2 at:  https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13768605

Reaper works too, although via Wine for now. Also, Tracktion , Ardour and Mixbus are options.

any OS maker has to keep it's customers happy.. and it's company it supplies , e.g. a pc maker. I've bought a pc in the past with no OS loaded on it for example.
 
I'm not a fan of the subs model, as having such things taking money out of your account seems "easier" way to get your money / less painful.. much as using a card vs paying cash.
 
if I get ill or things change etc and can't use the software .. then taking a small chunk out from my bank account , isn't helping.
 if more companies supported linux, I'd have switched years ago.. but well pc and mac are the mainstay.
 
I don't mind paying for an OS with the machine or outright, but not ongoing.

dubdisciple
Reaper works too, although via Wine for now.

Actually, there is now a native Linux version of REAPER as well as an ARM version for Raspberry Pi.
 
https://www.reaper.fm/download.php#linux_download
 
The image I posted earlier is a screen capture of the native Linux version of REAPER, and is what I used to record the music I linked to in a later post.

the_user_formally_known_as_glennbo

dubdisciple
Reaper works too, although via Wine for now.

Actually, there is now a native Linux version of REAPER as well as an ARM version for Raspberry Pi.
 
https://www.reaper.fm/download.php#linux_download
 
The image I posted earlier is a screen capture of the native Linux version of REAPER, and is what I used to record the music I linked to in a later post.

Thanks for update. I will try. Tracktion is just too much of a chore to me.