> just don't interact with the crap and you're still somewhat safer

You're not wrong, but your initial comment made it sound like it was just a matter of not stepping in a single pile of dog poo. What Microsoft presents users with instead is an entire sewer with a great big EXIT sign pointing straight through the sewage. If you're in the know you can mutter a secret incantation and a ladder will drop down, allowing you to climb up onto a rickety catwalk with lots of warning signs telling you that you're going the wrong way. If you're brave enough to ignore the warning signs then eventually you'll get to the other side without touching the crap.

Needless to say, most people follow the path that Microsoft designed for them and end up interacting with at least some of the crap.

Sure, but the typical person is not going to have a clue how to avoid interacting with the nonsense. At this point, there are two ways around it: do the installation as intended, then create a second local only account; or sift through the heaps of outdated advice online to bypass the registration requirement.

I thought the 'typical person' train has sailed a hundred years ago. You either take time to learn the fundamentals (in this instance, the fact that m$, crapple, etc. are all enemies) or you get exploited.

Notice that linux is not safe from that trend as well: you have to learn tech stuff to operate it in any capacity.

So there's no free lunch in this world, that much is obvious. I don't see where 'typical person' can reasonably survive intact in this tech climate so I also see no reason to bring them up.

You are definitely right but I still feel like this is Stockholm syndrome, if they keep dark-patterning people more and more into logging in, it doesn't really make this a substantial improvement, they'll update they're way into tracking you and uploading your personal files somehow.