That is fair, I did not know that, I thought this was only respected if you were an enterprise licensed user, but that might be my misunderstanding. Even so, I've gotten so used to Linux, I can't go back. Whenever I use Windows I wind up missing Linux. The only thing holding me on Windows was games, but Steam's Proton has gotten insanely well.

Group Policy is available in any version of Windows from Professional and up and doesn't require joining into a domain or a special license. A standalone Windows Professional install can effect Group Policy for itself and the policies thereof will be respected.

Home also technically has Group Policy, but it's not supposed to and most workarounds to that effect are very janky.

Thats not always true. Just today my team was investigating why windows updates didnt install on server 2016 despite deadlines and specific updates GPO's set.

We did have some tweaks as an outcome. But overall these policies have been in place for years. And since 2012R2 and later there have been multiple instances where windows updates policies wont apply in lieu of say... "maintenance windows" features being added to windows, so it ignores policies centered around deadlines etc.