Microsoft has previously capitulated to the US government and handed over customer data it holds even when outside US jurisdiction. Why would anyone trust Microsoft to secure their data?
Microsoft operating systems are constantly sending telemetry - even screenshots - back to HQ. Why would you want to use an OS that spies on you?

I've been multiple times on holidays, though the latest was when Obama was POTUS. Yes, Hawai'i was one of the destinations - beautiful place for sure.
Unfortunately your border control is beyond a joke, so I'll be steering clear and taking my family to other countries instead.

Your POTUS has also continually thrown tariff after tariff on our exports to the US even though we're in a trade deficit with you, which isn't conducive to niceties. Oh and starting a war that has affected global oil supplies? Not cool.

Oh, so if Trump can cancel the next election, he simply remains president? Or is his presidency vacated automatically on a given date regardless of what's going on?

Apparently it's 5 years, though extendable if you're actively attempting to hide it - which this blatantly isn't. So if there's another republican at the helm after Trump (or Trump prevents the next election), all they need to do is cancel their sub a year before the election following that - if you get that far of course.

I can attest that even us IT people adjacent to tech support can try every resolution in the book and still forget to simply turn it off and on again. Sometimes it's good to be reminded to start from the beginning rather than half-way through.

If a support AI can remotely check your logs to see activity it can also skip steps related to those already performed.

We require the receiver to maintain their banking details in our payment system. If they get hacked and the details are changed, that's entirely on them - not us. I've received several 'new banking details' emails from our supposed suppliers, and with this setup I don't have to worry about whether it's scammers or not.

Not all companies are profit driven as 1st priority. Some chase profits only to keep the company running to serve other more primary goals - Valve comes to mind here.

While I agree with your premise, the second thing that was sold to CIOs is the lack of required integration between toolsets, as Microsoft products work together "seamlessly".
For CIOs like ours that inherited a 'best of breed, now make them work together' system, they preferred to spend a little more $$$ on product licensing to save on integration spend - and the consequent headaches every time anyone decided to release a new version of their product...
It's also easier to blame the one vendor you have rather than trying to work out which one of multiple cocked something up.

It used to be big blue, then it shifted to Microsoft. I don't know if there's a 'who's next' though.

It's good having test mules for these occasions, so you can run up an alternate OS and try a Windows VM for those specific requirements.

You mean my 4 core 8 thread 4.4Ghz box with 32GB RAM and NVME M2 storage system? It's a dozen years old and still runs fine. Its only issue besides not having TPM for Win11 is gaming has moved on, and the GPUs I've bought since have gone into newer PCs rather than this thing.

Win11 is the epitome of designed obsolescence.

Note that the '570 vulnerabilities' were across Windows and other software, I saw mention of AD, Office, Sharepoint, and Copilot in TFA.

So to compare apples to something like apples, you'll need to look at your authentication system, OS, productivity suite, email server and client, AI, and collaboration platforms including chat, file sharing, and media management.
I'm no MS fanboi - heck I replaced my Windows based NAS OS with ZimaOS earlier today - but props at least that they're doing something.

Now if they can address bloat, stop putting Copilot into everything, and fix weird issues where hardware stops working (but runs fine under other OSes) I'd feel a bit better about them as a company.

Not just that, for most people they will just use whatever came with their PC - just like most people won't look at the version of their in-car entertainment system in case upgrades are available, or Lineage OS for their mobile phone, or their ISP provided router.

My experience already varies by region now, for some reason Windows11 thinks I'm in the US region even though my chosen timezone is half a planet away. Guess which one it uses for syncing the time with?
That's right, it randomly choses between the two.

That depends on whether we continue to let wealth be hoarded by the 1% - 0.1% of people or take measures to reduce wealth inequality. One way leads to Fifth Element, the other towards Star Trek.

You forgot:

Democracy sausages!

Yes at nearly every polling location there will be some organisation (many charity led) with volunteer staff sizzling sausages and onions on the BBQ, offering food and drinks (soda, water, no beer though) at cheap prices.

Normally located within walking distance in any but the most remote locations, it's a fairly quick outing to get your name checked off the roll, take your voting papers, (optionally) vote, and then stick your papers into the appropriate slots.

Not only do you get a very large turn-out, the results give actual numbers on disillusion with all offered parties rather than simply counting those that didn't vote for whatever reason - including inability to get their vote submitted.