The same cycle all over again. When 7 was out, everyone bombarded 7 to the ground and said how good XP was, despite at its core, 7 had way more improvements than XP and VISTA all together. Now, the cycle is the same.
The so called Windows 10 Privacy "issues" can be negated as it has been said: do not use an online acc. furthermore, the whole hype about privacy/spying on you is just a viral general consensus across the internet.
At the core OS, we cannot deny that there are many improvements on the OS. Is it recommended over W7 or W8/8.1? Yes it is because of that. Is it everyone cup of tea? no and never will be.
So choosing not to update because you cannot afford is one thing. Choosing because of the "privacy" issues that can actually be almost all negated is just plain silly. You are free to do so if you wish, but there is no logic behind it at all.
Now in regards to Linux, for those who say will move to Linux, please bear the following in mind: Linux has existed for decades and only in last 6 or so years there has been greater support for hardware and drivers. If you think it will be a walk in the park like the now trusted windows 7 which was flamed to the ground back then, you are wrong.
A basic Linux installation is one thing but in order to maintain it even if you are installing Linux Mint, Ubuntu etc, you will need to be fully aware of their terminology along with how to fix when things go wrong, such as kernel upgrades, working with command line (CLI) (basic guides that cover terminal usage do not really teach you much by the way). I read most of the time when users "convert" to linux because of the w10 hype but then they are clueless in how to maintain and guess what, they go back to Windows, whether be W7 W8/8.1 or even W10.
I hope this sheds some light.
On a side note: how many people use chrome and other services by google and other companies? You think your privacy is kept anonymous at all? ill give an example: use google to search something and visit a site, you have some of the privacy options off plus do not track me enabled etc. you visit a site and the ads and content is displayed to you based on your IP. From there on, you get my point.