Preinstalls is the only way I’ve paid Microsoft recently, and that was for two gaming PCs for my kids. Before that it was when I bought a laptop with preinstalled OS in 2009.
Only time i paid them directly was for the win98 upgrade license, which was objectively worth it since I could use my Win3.1 floppies as an upgrade starting point.
Now I’m a linux user. I only have windows on my work laptop.