They could (and might as well) give Windows away for free. It's not an operating system for them, it's a sales funnel.
But that sales funnel needs to not exceed a certain maximum level of annoyance to the people traveling down it, or they'll look askance at other options.
I mean, not even all the Copilot silliness has been able to lead to The Year of the Linux Desktop, but Windows 11 as a whole I suspect has been good for Mac and iPad sales. And those are people that now aren't getting nagged by their operating systems to use OneNote, OneDrive, Word, Copilot etc at every turn.
But that sales funnel needs to not exceed a certain maximum level of annoyance to the people traveling down it, or they'll look askance at other options.
I mean, not even all the Copilot silliness has been able to lead to The Year of the Linux Desktop, but Windows 11 as a whole I suspect has been good for Mac and iPad sales. And those are people that now aren't getting nagged by their operating systems to use OneNote, OneDrive, Word, Copilot etc at every turn.