able to run on any hardware

free for basic usage, paid for commercial usage

lightweight, simple, stripped of all cruft and extras

consistent in it's UI and cleaned up from 40 years of inconsistencies

But they didn't - so people are looking for alternatives.

Have they closed the double install trick?

1. Install once with ms account and activate.

2. Reinstall offline with local account.

3. It will be activated when you go back online.

I suspect the remote server remember your computer hardware generated guid

Mint is very similar to Windows UI