Microsoft have plans to charge customers utility?

Short answer to the worry @hexstar raised: there was no credible Microsoft plan in 2004 to require a monthly “utility” fee that would stop a legitimately purchased desktop Windows installation from running if you did not pay. Longhorn eventually became Windows Vista (released to manufacturing in late 2006 and broadly in 2007) and shipped as a normal licensed OS, not a subscription that shuts off the machine if you stop paying (Windows Vista).

What Microsoft has done repeatedly is enforce licensing and fight piracy. Product activation and the Windows Genuine Advantage checks were intended to limit unlicensed copies and could restrict downloads or show warnings, but they were not the same as a consumer-facing pay-per-month kill switch for legally purchased retail or OEM Windows installs (Windows Genuine Advantage). Asking “where’d you hear this?” as @GaryKing did, is the right first step — credible press or an official Microsoft statement is needed before acting on rumors.

That said, Microsoft has moved many capabilities into subscription and cloud services over the years (Office 365 / Microsoft 365, ongoing update/service models and cloud-hosted PCs). The company now sells many features as subscriptions or cloud products, which is different from making an installed desktop OS unusable without a monthly fee (Windows as a Service overview).

If the concern is lock-in or malware (also mentioned by @hexstar), verify claims by reading official Microsoft press releases and the product EULA, consult reputable tech outlets for analysis, and keep backups and recovery media. If you want to avoid any risk of vendor-imposed subscription changes, evaluate alternatives (macOS, Linux) for your workflow — each has tradeoffs, so check app compatibility and support before switching.