Um, if it's "parallel" (e.g. separate from the OS package manager) then it's not centrally managed. The OS package manager is the central management.
There might be specific use cases where this makes sense, but frankly if segregating an app from the OS is a requirement then it should be fully containerized with something like Docker, or run in an independent VM.
If a flatpack is made reasonably, then it gets library updates independent of the app developer doing it.
That feels like a load-bearing "if". I never have to worry about this with the package manager.
Oh no, no GUI nonsense. Single, simple shell command update for the whole system so that it can be properly remotely managed, please. Something equivalent to sudo apt upgrade
This is true, the only shared libraries are usually the .NET versions, but so many apps depend on specific .NET versions that frequently the modularity doesn't matter.
If you're separating your application from the core system package manager and shared libraries, there had better be a good and specific reason for it (e.g. the app needs to be containerized for stability/security/weird dependency). If an app can't be centrally managed I don't want it on my system, with grudging exceptions.
Chocolatey has even made this possible in Windows, and lately for my Windows environments if I can't install an application through chocolatey then I'll try to find an alternative that I can. Package managers are absolutely superior to independent application installs.
I finally solved this problem in my desktop by having two separate M2 drives, one for Windows and one for Linux. Boot & grub live on the Linux drive and Windows never touches it.
With Linux and Windows on one drive, this is super annoying.
Run whatever OS environment you need, in its own instance. Run a virtual networking stack. Crosslink your environments as needed. Segregate your environments as needed. Create new environments as needed. Destroy them as needed. Expand your virtual infrastructure.
Experiment with BSD and then realize that TrueNAS Scale is the last NAS environment you'll ever need, and you didn't really want to spend time on BSD anyway. Expand your server and network infrastructure.
Run every environment. Realize that you actually have a lot to learn about Windows, especially server and AD forests, and all the stuff you've complained about is actually kind of petty next to the monolith of professional computing environment that Microsoft has built (and also keeps making unnecessary self-harming changes to, and wtf is with user CALs anyway?). Learn to do user and domain management for real. Then learn what the real problems with Microsoft are.
Experiment with Redox, then give up and do something more useful with your time.
Install Xen Orchestra on some cheap secondhand Dell server you bought off eBay. Run a proper VM cloud environment. Run everything on top of it. Create your own VM golden images for the environments you use most often. Your personal computer doesn't even have a local OS installed anymore, it's just a terminal that runs whichever VM you need from your Xen server at the moment. Reject limitations.
OS elitism is for the weak and the simple. Enlightenment is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, and getting the best from all of them.
Has it been proven to happen on Windows 11? Not that I can point to specifically. 11 hasn't been in general use long enough to see a real pattern of behavior.
I was a mixed Windows and Linux user through the full life cycle of the Cortana implementation. The number of times they changed or moved Cortana related settings through the years was just ridiculous. It finally came down to having to manually change registry settings to keep it from scanning your files and messing with basic local search, and even if you did that you had to make sure the registry values were still set after version updates because they would get unset without warning.
I have no trust left for Microsoft, only suspicion.