If so, more blame lies at the feet of those that make it the only solution.

> Just click no on the windows 20 upgrade dialogue

Would that it were so simple. But Microsoft chose to mean "yes" by the "close this [annoying] window" button, with Windows 10; who knows what they'll come up with for Windows 20.

> (or just upgrade, it's pretty good)

For you, sure. Some people like to make their own choices.

> Refusing to patch

For most people that disabled updates, it wasn't a "refusal to patch", so much as a (read: the only) relief from annoyance.