I’m a government contractor, so I’m stuck on Windows and Microsoft products for work. It really sucks, but the government ain’t switching to Linux anytime soon… if ever. At least Windows 11 Enterprise (or Government, whatever) should have a lot of this shit stripped out. I hope.
I use 11 and don't see any ads and have telemetry turned off. I'm not sure where this is coming from, but I keep hearing it, and it doesn't mesh with my experience.
I've personally thought about going back to Linux, and I still might next time I upgrade my MOBO, but the thought of all the effort it will take to get all of my hardware working again is exhausting. That was the greatest struggle before I even approached software issues. I've heard it is better these days, but I'm not an expert or a programmer, so I'm essentially relying that someone else has had my use case, solved it, and made it publicly available which is not always the case.
That could very well be the case. I was on a beater laptop previously that was no longer functioning with windows and I needed something for school. I remember I that I wasn't able to get the wifi card to work with Linux so I ended up getting an external card. It likely is different now and I have a proper desktop, but the experience was rough and I'm not eager to repeat it, lol.