I have a Windows desktop PC, that I use almost exclusively for playing PC games with friends. I already had to use some obscure method to bypass signing in with my Microsoft account during installation. I boot it anywhere between once a month and a few times a week, and about 50% of the time some random configuration changes and I can’t do the one thing that I set out to do (play a game) without updating or downgrading some arbitrary driver.
Oh, and it nags me almost every boot to sign in with my Microsoft account for one reason or another. And this is an operating system with an MSRP of $200!
There are loads of things to critique about my Mac, but I can use it daily just fine, without the OS trying to trick me into signing into some service or other. The daily experience of using it feels much more consensual, as you describe.