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Old saying

If you pay for it you are the customer. If free, you are the product being sold.

New saying Pay up and don't complain about the ads.

It's a bad saying. There are, and have been for a long time, many counter-examples.

In case of television, people pay for it and they are "the product" as well. In case of Free Software, it's free, and the users are not sold at all.

But I paid for a Windows license and they're still doing it

A retail Windows license isn't the same as an enterprise Windows license. Retails Windows licenses started with ads for OneDrive and Office in Settings, but now that they're reverting to their old, shameless ways, they're putting ads everywhere else too for retail users.

With a Windows Enterprise license, all of the ads can be turned off, or at least that was the practice.

It's Windows 11 Pro. How do I buy an enterprise license?

Sorry, I'm not your VAR rep. https://letmegoogleforyou.com/?q=buy%20windows%2011%20enterp...

That is what I thought. "Contact Sales". You can't without a contract. So advert-ridden Windows is unavoidable for consumers even if they paid $200.

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