I see the windows 10 business model as shortening their free support times and unless you subscribe to their update service you will be left behind. You have to think about this with a business mindset. They had to be creative and come up with a new way to generate revenue on a consistent basis and subscription based software was the vehicle they chose to accomplish this with. Personally I love their network based office products which give me access to real time updates in the dictionary and APA style citations when I copy and paste into a document. My regular office 2010 doesn't offer these features and I really enjoy them in the office 2016 preview and office 365. This gives the user a better product and MS a steady source of revenue for future development. They cannot support windows xp forever nor should they. Just like when you buy a new car with a fixed warranty period, software now has a support expiration date and since MS is the manufacturer they can set the date anyway they please unless it becomes subject to federal regulation and then they will have to adhere to the limits placed upon them.
I think the plan for Windows 10 is to basically keep updating it for a long time. Windows 10 as a base product, I think, will last a long time. It's about that time where the NT Kernel has become excellent and stable, and now it is truly multi-platform.
That said, I think there will be basic feature updates, and then there will be the new style of Service Packs, which will be point releases. 10.1, 10.2, etc. Much of what has been done within Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 can all be truly done under the same original release. The new versions were to keep up the standard practices.
But once Windows 10.1 is released, standard support for 10.0 will basically drop, not immediately but it can't be supported forever. And frankly, that's the right way to approach it IMHO, because to support the security considerations of multiple aging versions of an OS, especially if it's a point-release model like Windows 10 might be, is a ridiculous requirement that drags down resources.
When 8.1 was released, 8.0 support was basically neutered, as it should have been. People were up in flames, but let's get real - who the hell thought it would be a good idea to stay on 8.0 and not upgrade to 8.1. It was a major service pack. Not upgrading to Windows 7 SP1 meant you weren't supported that well either IIRC.
If you have Windows 10 and don't keep up with updates, they pull your security updates. You can choose the Slow Ring so that updates are better tested for stability and security, but if you don't keep up with those, it's like not keeping up with Service Packs. As they add new features or do more complete patching beyond strict security concerns, they may both create more security concerns to patch as well as completely remove older security issues. So by not keeping up, that is increasing the number of potential security flaws that Microsoft has to keep attempting to correct. Microsoft, I think, is wise to not consider that.
I think it would be much better to more appropriately stick to more point releases like OS X, so that sure you don't update iPhoto to the latest version, but if you don't update to 10.11, you won't get future security updates for as long as you would if you kept up with the upgrades (I think they do this, though I may be wrong).
And even when they say they may go that route, grave security concerns can still prompt releases for older unsupported platforms. IIRC, Microsoft has released patches for the now unsupported XP.
Microsoft is realizing their OS is now only a means to an end, they are now orienting themselves toward other services and products, with Windows simply being the platform to get you in the door. They are supporting other platforms too with up to date products, so they truly are only after you for the main services these days.
Frankly, the more control Microsoft has over the update process, as long as they aren't going crazy and removing features as they see fit in time, I think we are all better off. That makes for a more secure Windows environment, which is good for everyone. Less widespread flaws = fewer resources dedicated to utilizing those flaws for nefarious purposes.
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