The GDPR specifically says that EULA provisions have no effect on the validity of the regulation. Quoting from article 7 [1]:

If the data subject’s consent is given in the context of a written declaration which also concerns other matters, the request for consent shall be presented in a manner which is clearly distinguishable from the other matters, in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language. Any part of such a declaration which constitutes an infringement of this Regulation shall not be binding.

[1] https://gdpr-info.eu/art-7-gdpr/

One of the nice things about the legislation is that it's quite specific about not allowing consent to be buried in legalese. While I imagine things will soften up a little as companies realise they're not going to immediately get slapped with a fine, most companies will at least be more careful since its simple for complaints to be made. Most do not want to bring the ICO's attention to themselves.

Thing is if everything puts up a big notice "YOU MUST AGREE TO BE TRACKED AND SOLD TO USE OUR SERVICE" then people will just click that.

That is coercive, and therefore does not comply (nor does it actually mean consent).

You can't withhold service based on accepting non-essential data collection without offering alternatives, that falls under coercion and is a direct violation of the regulation. Should you ever see that report them immediately (something I already did once today).

Thank you, I did not know this.

> then people will just click that.

I'm not certain of that. I think that GDPR's biggest effect, even before going live, was to raise awareness of what companies do with their data.

My wife is not particularly technical but has received four e-mails from a hobby magazine pleading with her, increasingly desperately, to opt-in to marketing. That has caused her to wonder why they're so desperate. Why is her information so valuable to them? What do they do with it? So she has decided not to renew her subscription.

There's provisions to make sure mandatory tracking, profiling is explicitly opt-in, and that there's a real alternative. That might be a fee (eg Gmail could let you pay x/month to disable all targeted ads - or rather; they might have an opt-in gratis/free service that had ads/tracking).

I don't think that's true; they can offer a paid version or a free version, but they can't offer a version "paid with tracking", even if there's an alternative.