I use Windows 10 and have a choice. I can use a package manager of my choosing. I can install an application that self-updates. I can pause OS updates in a control panel.

One of the biggest problems with Windows is that every app sets up its own update policy and comes from its own App Store. (Steam, battle.net, etc.,) But that's Microsoft's fault for doing too little, not for doing too much. And that's actually kind of nice.

> I use Windows 10 and have a choice.

So do I.

Their botched rollout of Edge, including installing it without my permission and placing it on my taskbar, shows that no, you don't have a choice.

> I can pause OS updates in a control panel.

This is misleading at best. You can pause updates for a time period but they're forced at that point.

Canonical's actions with snaps are very clearly steering us away from choices that were once easy to make. They come by default, you can't easily use a non-Canonical store (not even really possible at the moment), they force auto-updates on us and they trick us into installing them when we think we're going to install a traditional .deb.

I don't know why you're comparing it to Windows 10.