Pffft. As if you’re not paying for macOS when they charge you $400 for an SSD you could get for $200. If you insist that it’s actually free, then you’re the product and a tool for Apple to use.

You can turn off all telemetry [0] in the Windows Enterprise edition which can be purchased by anyone if they bother looking. Even if you couldn’t, anything is better than Apple’s prison and their woefully inadequate UI that everybody here has to spend time and money buying 3rd party apps to fix.

Also, next time you open up the app store that you have no choice in using on one of your iDevices or soon on your Mac, think about all the third party ads you’re definitely not looking at and all the telemetry that is definitely not being collected there.

[0] and “ads” if that’s what you call a single icon for a 3rd party app which only appears once after installation.

> that you still have to pay for

You think you don't pay for mac OS?

> get third-party ads anyway

Not getting any? On start bar? It can simply be resized to hide ads.

> an inconsistent Escheresque nightmare of a UI.

Some FUD spread by apple fans. Windows, GTK, and QT are all pretty good. There may be small problems but the look and feel of UI is not why I buy a computer.

Just wanted to add the fact that Microsoft telemetry never stopped me from doing anything.

Meanwhile nobody can run any apps on their Macs right now because of Apple’s telemetry. Enjoy that!