I think this is death by 1,000 cuts for Windows. While privacy might not be a major issue for many users, when you couple that with mandatory sign-in to Microsoft accounts to use your own computer, a constant stream of commercials you are forced to view on your own computer and the never-ending up-selling of unwanted, intrusive Microsoft bloatware like Co-Pilot and One Drive, more and more people are going to be inspired (or compelled) to look for an alternative.

I've been a Windows user since Windows was originally released (and was an MS-DOS user before that), but Windows 11 is the straw that broke the camels back for me. I've dabbled with Linux before, but the lack of gaming support and the hassles to configure it properly to get all my hardware to work made it to inconvenient to switch, but I am 100% going to switch when support for Windows 10 expires. As I am the one who offers tech support to numerous relatives who are less tech savvy, I will also migrate them to the most user-friendly Linux build I can find. Almost all of them, especially the older ones, use their computers almost exclusively for web-browsing and streaming videos, and this will be a virtually seamless process for them. Most of my Gen-X friends are of the same mindset (except for the ones who have been captured by the Mac ecosystem).

Certainly Windows is not going to go away no matter how terrible and odious their OS becomes, but I think many people have underestimated just how far they can push the envelope without seeing a significant migration away from MS.