There's good and bad change - who the hell likes bad change?
I'm a Windows user from 3.1 - every successive version up to 8 brought great things to the table (I include ME and Vista in that group) - 8 destroyed the UI when it should have been split off as a new SKU for mobile.
There were a couple of underlying benefits but they were outweighed by the abomination sitting on top. 10 has gone some of the way to rectifying it just as 8.1 did.
Windows 8.1 and 10 are a response to a massive loss of market share. 10 is such a gamble the only way they can convince people is to give it to them for nothing, something that traditionally ran you at least $120. That's $120 * 14 million copies. If you do the math and assume MS make say $10 a copy that's a direct hit of $140 million. Being that they'll be giving it away for 12 months the loss in direct revenue will be staggering.
They have a plan though it's outlined in this article - and Acquire is the first step, which they are succeeding at right now.
Microsoft reveals how it will make money giving away software | The Verge