There's no substance to any of these gripes. What advertising? The section hardly describes where/what that is. Sure there's Microsoft Store/app related things (if you use them) but other than that, isn't most of it third-party/manufacturer-included bloat and ads? I don't see any ads on my Win 11 install anywhere. I never use the Start menu except for my already pinned/frequently used apps. Most of my apps are no MS-related.... VS Code and OS stuff excepted. No ads there. Not using Edge browser so that eliminates any of that MS/Bing/whatever related ads. The file explorer mostly works. Problems with updates come and go, but are minor/years apart. There's no particular lock-in at the level of Mac OS, and I can manage my device/files/plug'n'play mostly without any restrictions. It still feels like my machine in ways that Macs never do.