"Bill" wrote

| Let's not forget who "owns"
| the computer. There does not appear to be respect for that. From what I
| can tell, smart-phones are worse with regard to that issue. I've already
| switched from win7 to win10 even though I had a paid-for professional
| version of the OS. IMO, MS shouldn't "get in the way".

You've got your answer there. You're rightly outraged
over Win10 behavior, yet you're using Win10 and switched
from Win7. Microsoft will not give up easily. The only
way they *might* act honestly would be with government
regulation or customers rejecting Windows. The former
is unlikely. Biden is a centrist at best, and Kamala Harris
is a friend of California tech. The best we'll get out of the
next election is reasonably sane, pro-business, fake
Democrats.

Customer rejection? There's no sign. Day after day I see
people in this group complain that Microsoft messed up their
system without asking, yet they keep using it! You could go
back to Win7, but you don't.

The other day I was helping a friend, a teacher, run an
ethernet cable to her home office. She had a Win7 laptop.
Her "tech guy" switched it to Win10. Not surprising. It's
probably easier for him manage a lot of customers all using
the same thing. He makes them buy a Carbonite subscription,
which backs up the system remotely, and then charges them
a periodic fee.

So there are tech support people who barely know what
they're doing and don't charge enough to care. There are
Windows users who can't be bothered to understand what
product they're using. Into that scenario, Microsoft is gradually
and systematically switching you over to a rental model. You're
like the frog in the pan of heating water, yelling, "Hey! Who
turned off the AC?!" You'll find out soon enough. And there'll be
no one to blame but yourself.

You can protest that Win10 is the only choice... Your something
or other won't work with 7... What about security?... There are
all kinds of arguments pro and con, but the fact remains. Microsoft
is cheating you because you're going to pay them to do so.