I gave up trying to keep from using a microsoft account to login to Windows 11. Instead, I installed linux and created a Win 11 virtual machine. Fortunately, I only rarely boot the Windows VM. Now I have:
1. no more random reboots
2. fast updates
3. much lower idle cpu use
4. cleaner operation with fewer crashes
5. no ad garbage from the OS to worry about
6. much much faster linux environment (WSL2 is atrocious).
It was 600% worth switching. Caveat -- I used linux as a daily driver in the late 90s early 2000s, and went back to Microsoft for work compatibility. Linux is much better now, but I still wouldn't try to get my parents to run it.
Anecdotally, my dad is pretty tech illiterate but he's been using Ubuntu for over 5 years. I got fed up playing tech support for Windows and had him try it out. He's been much happier with it. His workflow and UI stays the same, no forced changes. I just login every once in a while to run updates.
I finally switched my desktop this year and I wish I had done it sooner but gaming held me back. Now any games that intentionally won't run under Linux are games I'm not interested in playing.
I had a false start getting my mom to switch from OSX to Linux. She is tech savvy, and because of that she was doing more advanced things like mail merges for nonprofits, developing websites, etc. That was in the 2000s. I expect moving from Windows to Linux is much easier than moving from the Apple ecosystem. I still provide tech support to both parents, but since tailscale and quickassist it hasn't been too bad.
1. no more random reboots
2. fast updates
3. much lower idle cpu use
4. cleaner operation with fewer crashes
5. no ad garbage from the OS to worry about
6. much much faster linux environment (WSL2 is atrocious).
It was 600% worth switching. Caveat -- I used linux as a daily driver in the late 90s early 2000s, and went back to Microsoft for work compatibility. Linux is much better now, but I still wouldn't try to get my parents to run it.