Windows 11 is miserable. You are now required to add Microsoft accounts at the OS level. Tons of bloatware, embedded ads in start menu, heavy user tracking. Shitty AI implementation pushed on all apps including notepad. And all of the windows 10+ elements are built in the windows 8 base image so all of the settings are nested on top of the new settings UI, on top of control panel.
local accounts still work, even on home edition
ads in the start menu work the same way as they do in windows 10 (pinned tiles that download actual apps from the store, you just need to unpin 'em)
I still don’t have any of the ai stuff, and pretty sure they should be controllable with a simple group policy
Local accounts only work with a really convoluted method during install, involving physically disconnecting your Ethernet cable and running a command in the OOBE.
you don’t need to do anything convoluted or remove your internet connection, you just need to run a single command before doing anything (which will cause your oc to reboot and the offline option to unlock)
