It is incredibly user hostile. And it's not even free. This is an ecosystem you pay for.
They're treating folks shelling out $200 for an OS as if they were cattle on the adtech train.
Who is actually shelling out $200 for Windows specifically?
It's perceptually free if you bought it with your PC. And it's actually free if you took advantage of the free upgrade offer.
I've picked up a few licenses off MacHeist for like $10
Here's hoping that Apple can correct-course from this path. Last time I daily-drove macOS (Sequoia) it was pushing adverts in my face with every native app I launched.