Well that’s what I mean. I don’t count that as free haha. I also never paid that much for a license myself. The only windows code I ever paid for was a Windows 10 Enterprise code for $30 off a 3rd party website. Worked fine ever since.
I just mean that OP shouldn’t feel the need to get caught up on one version of “free” or another and should just focus on what they themselves feel they need. For example if you need your PC for work and need to use a piece of proprietary software for said work then your choice of how free your software and OS is will probably differ from someone like me who only uses company PCs at a desk for work and is free to use whatever I damn well please for myself everywhere else.