I've never seen Windows 11, but from what I've read it seems not to be so much an operating system - for running programs or apps - but more an advertising platform. Microsoft makes most of its money (from ordinary PC buyers, as opposed to businesses) from selling cloud services and subscription software - such as One Drive and Office 365 - so it pushes people into using those. Google obviously does the same with ChromeOS, of course. Does Apple? Dunno; I haven't used a Mac since the original one in the 80's. But my impression is that MacOS is the nearest thing to an Operating System these days.

I'm not sure when this first happened. Win 8? My wife runs Win 10 and it offers weather forecasts (useless) and 'suggests' content she 'might like', which is irritating and intrusive. It's still possible to run without a Microsoft Account, but it needs extra work.

Microsoft is investing heavily in AI, and that piece about Windows 12 suggests that AI might be the main reason for its (apparantly) sudden appearance. Microsoft are building PCs with Neural Processing Units (NPUs) to speed up AI. What AI? In Windows itself? So you need an operating system to support new hardware which is used by ... the operating system? What's the benefit for the PC user?

The only reason my wife needs Windows (she ran Linux for 3 months at my suggestion) is for Powerpoint; the LibreOffice equivalent, Impress, is just not good enough. Hopefully she'll stop needing that before the end of 2025. The 2012 laptop is still working fine.