> Internet Explorer was not free. You needed Windows. And if you had Windows you HAD IE, regardless of whether you wanted it or not, or even tried to remove it.

Can you use Gmail, Google Drive, Chrome sync etc and opt out of allowing Google to use any of your data for advertising services?

I can in fact, go to a different mail provider, use a different file hosting and sharing service, and use different browsers with different sync technologies.

All of that I can do _for free_ with little to no hassle.

This was not the case with IE. You are not doing a fair comparison here, and it's bordering on dishonest.