Why I decided against a Win 11 clean install for now

Bree said:

The OOBE stage of setting up Windows 11 insists on connecting to the internet, and then on using a Microsoft account as the initial account. This is the case for both Home and Pro.

There is a way round this, a script provided by Microsoft, named bypassnro.cmd, and found in the C:\Windows\System32\OOBE folder (or sometimes MSOOBE on an OEM pre-installed system). This restarts the OOBE, this time with an option to skip connecting and continue with a 'limited setup' - ie. you can create a local account.

To invoke it press Shift+F10 at the screen asking for a network connection to get a Command Prompt and type OOBE\bypassnro
What is "oobe\bypassnro" | Windows 11 Forum

I tried using oobe\bypassnro but it didn't seem to help. Or maybe I just didn't understand what was happening because there were no messages.

I should mention that when I first tried to run this commmand I got a message like "no such command." I had to hunt around to find the msoobe subdirectory to find this command.

NMI said:

Power Start Menu is not sold by Microsoft.

It's not authored by MS, but it sure is being SOLD in their store...

NMI said:

So are lots of other start menu alternatives. Why single out this one?

They probably had to follow some MS procedure in order to get listed. Which probably included a technical screening and maybe some upfront monies and a revenue split agreement.