I know this is a Linux community, but if you’re stuck on Windows for whatever reason still, there is a perfectly viable option.

Windows 11 Enterprise IoT LTSC.

There’s ISOs and permanent activation at: massgrave.dev

It’s basically what Windows should be, and feels like a fresh W7 install. No bloat, no AI, no bullshit. Legit just Edge and Defender, and all telemetry settings can be disabled.

I use it for my daily driver, then every few weeks or months when I see major updates I’m interested in, I hop onto my CachyOS install. I spend a day or so testing to see if everything feels polished/solid enough for me to ditch Windows.

It does seem a lot of games pivoted from cheap enough so everyone will buy it, to whale hunting. They had people run numbers and found whale hunting paid off more, and how much $ they could charge for a skin combined with FOMO before driving the whales away.