Is it a huge issue that the majority, if not all (assuming you opt out of everything optional), of the data they collect is diagnostic in nature and probably doesn't even approach the level of what Amazon or Walmart or any supermarket, or any Android or Apple app for that matter, collects about you? Not really.
No. That is likely how it started in Windows 8 going into Windows 10, but not once the ads began in 10.
An advertising regime such as what Microsoft has built into Windows 11 Advertising Edition doesn't work without deep knowledge of past purchases, timestamps, etc. That devalues the entire prospect and makes it not worth it just in developer time alone, and belies the idea that "only" diagnostic data is being collected at this point.
Common sense dictates
this:
Scenario 1: Some people are clicking in something of an ad in Windows, what did they click on? We don't know. When did they click on it? I don't know. What did they click on before? I don't know. What do you think they'll click on next? That is something we can't reasonably tell.
Scenario 2: Mike Smith (because we have his Windows Account ID #) clicked on and purchased last week a pair of glasses, and two weeks before that he purchased suntan lotion and routinely clicks on both suntan lotion and towel ads. From time to time, also, he clicks on airline ads. Especially, he clicks on ads like this shortly before spring break, and he does this every year. We have a calendar, we can see it, the pattern. What do people in Mike Smith's local area, and state, and region, what do they all click on? We know, because we have their logins, and we Microsoft can sell the data.
Nobody would ever assume that scenario 1 is more valuable than scenario 2. Especially since Microsoft keeps fighting tooth and nail to force users to use the online Windows Account. There would not have been any point to building the API at all. Follow the money.
Microsoft is not consuming most of its time and data collection activity for primarily diagnostic data. The advertisements dictate that this cannot be the truth. Follow the money. Always follow the money.
Exactly!
Add to that, your cellphone.
Yes.
Microsoft did in fact follow the Google Android model, since most users do not care(some are even willing to state it openly that it doesn't bother them, but the user actions tell the story without the words) it was easy for Microsoft to conclude that spying on people would be much less controversial than going with a structured subscription model.
And very likely, spying on people and sending users advertisements is more lucrative than subscriptions would have been. Why have less money in the Microsoft bank account with subscriptions when ads deliver more money than subscriptions to the Microsoft bank account anyways? Users can only pay Microsoft six bucks. Amazon can pay thousands. I wouldn't even be surprised to learn that Microsoft has Amazon on a fat monthly subscription contract for weekly ad telemetry data.
They have your online Microsoft Account number. They know what you click on. It's linked by the reference number, these things always are.
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