I'm sorry, I don't think we're going to end up agreeing on this. I don't see that it's been forced on anyone. Maybe users of that instance, or people who use the software. But the list is there.
I kinda don't see why everyone has their knickers in a twist. This is exactly what the Fediverse is about - don't like, don't federate. And it's one instance or one software.
I refuse to call it a store. I can't walk into it and pick up a box from the shelf with physical install media. It's a software repository with paywalls.
I have a weird situation. I was a Windows user from 3.x to 10. I genuinely like Win9x, XP, and a lot of 7. I switched to Linux as my main machine with Mint because Cinnamon works like Windows. The only hassle I have is external display issues (X11 displayport stuff) - so I'm not looking at Cachy or KDE Neon or anything like that. But my gaming PC is Win11. It all works. Getting back to Windows, while there's some challenges, everything feels "right" again. 7-Zip, Notepad++, various games, it's all natural. I have trouble running arbitrary software on Mint, but Windows just runs every exe I throw at it. It works with my trackball and external display painlessly.
Basically, they both work.
Also, I disagree with the article author about the email client in the OS. I think that's bloatware and the results of Microsoft being monopolistic. Webmail works fine. If you want an email client locally, it's your choice. Then again I'd love to see what he says is better than Outlook - because it isn't Thunderbird.
Obviously. Was there a question? That's just political corruption 101. Vote the right way or be starved.