I haven't gone down a rabbit hole at all. There are only three very short and sweet comments from me on the subject.

I think it's interesting that people frame it differently depending on whether it's Linux or Windows. Product placements in Windows are called adverts. Product placements in Linux and software people run on Linux are called helping the user.

I'm just here to defend the position that Windows doesn't serve adverts. At least to me on any of the Windows computers I've used in the past several years on both pro and home editions. I haven't used any of these tricks or scripts that attempt to cripple Windows either. I've only disabled web search in the start menu because I think it's a stupid feature. And yes there are product placements on the start menu by default but they're never to be seen again after you delete them in the first 30 seconds on the very first boot up.

I use Linux and Windows, so i'm not a hardcore Windows user come here to troll. Although, it feels like I would have received less negativity if I had trolled. 😂

With Windows and adverts, maybe it's a your mileage may vary situation based on your region or something. All I know is, I see zero adverts on Windows.