If we're to pass any sort of legislation, it shouldn't be against the kids, they're the victims of exploitation by greedy monopoly/oligopoly algorithms, we should legislate against companies like Meta, Snapchat, etc. the TikTok ban unless they sold off to an American firm that could be subject to US legislation was actually not the worst idea in the world (albeit I highly doubt the current Congress would've actually done anything constructive after the theoretical sale)

2005 is about as late as you can go before the processors in cameras started being powerful enough to do a lot of stuff to the images. Most of my collection is very early 2000s or even late 90s. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F717 is a great cam from 2002 that was Sony's flagship at the time. Despite having cool features that modern cams don't (nightshot which also allows for easy IR photography, a swiveling lens assembly), the pictures have that "filmic" look thanks to the CCD sensor and little to no denoising done in-camera. It was also high resolution enough for the time (5MP) that the pictures still look reasonably detailed and sharp. Super early digicams often had like 1MP sensors that produce quite fuzzy images (though I feel that has its own appeal)

"pirated" yes but you can often source the install images direct from Microsoft and then use open source tools to crack the activation systems. Microsoft has kind of stopped policing piracy at the individual user level, you can even download Windows cracking tools off GitHub, a platform that Microsoft owns. As long as you're using their software it makes them happy. And LTSC is worth it to have a barebones no-bullshit Windows installation.

This sounds nightmarish. One of many reasons I refuse to sign into my Outlook account on Windows, I just know they'll use the excuse of "integration" to completely fuck up my computer with cloud bullshit. I want what's on my computer to stay on my computer, dammit.

This. Important distinction between "the company wants to know everything that happens to the server" and "Microsoft wants to know why you don't want their bloated adware running 24/7"