"Would you like to help Microsoft improve its services"
I use Bing, Bing Maps, SkyDrive, Outlook and Office Web Apps on my Chromebook and MacBook nearly every day. If I saw that, I don't recall it. I would have said yes.
Each service on Microsoft collects its own data to be used to improve that application only. Your data is not shared across the services its not needed.
Google is one company, I have no problem being one profile to them. I know what they're doing, how many buckets they keep data in doesn't concern me.
But that data, if you say yes, is used by MS to build an ad profile. Display ads are in the privacy policy section of every single Bing service.
Regardless how many buckets your data is stored in, you are one single uniquely identified ad target on every service on the Internet that shows MS ads. Deny it, but advertising.Microsoft.com lays it all out for you.
Microsoft touch keyboard program collects your data to help you type better. Bing collects your data to make your Bing searches more accurate. Every bit of data Google collects is shared across all the Google services so that they can advertise to you more directly. They do this by monitoring every word you type in your email. They collect and monitor every word you type on Google+.
Microsoft has every word that I type in Outlook. They have access to everything I do on Facebook. They have every site that I go to thanks to Suggested Sites. They have every letter that I type into the address bar thanks to Instant Search Suggestions, even if I don't complete the search.
You've got a problem with the fact that Google keeps one profile on users while MS breaks that up across services. I get that, but it's a personal choice issue for me. I choose to do things the way that I do.
But I'll give you an example of how this containerized approach doesn't work for me. Enable search history on your desktop in Bing. Now, enable search history in Bing on your phone. Do a search on your phone. Look for that history on your desktop.
It's not there, and as someone that uses 7 total devices on a daily basis, that's not helpful for MS to segregate data that way.
Google never gives you any way to opt out. I pay $15 a year to have the adds removed from my Outlook account and I chose "NO" that means no one is monitoring my emails at all. Lets see you do that on Gmail.
Your email is monitored, or using more accurate terminology, machine indexed on Outlook just Like Gmail. Outlook has a slightly less effective search feature, so all of that data IS machine indexed.
And it's true, MS does say that the contents of your mail will not be used to show ads against in Outlook, but they don't say that the contents of your email won't be used to show you ads anywhere. In legal agreements, words are always chosen very carefully by the lawyers that write them.
Google sells adds to do that they tracks everything you do on all their services and will not give you the option. Microsoft will track you using your data to improve services if you allow it but Microsoft sells software. You can subscribe to almost every service Microsoft offers. You can also opt out of data collection.
Microsoft also sells ads. MS will even match your profile with information from Experian and Nielsen to better target ads that you see online and in your Xbox console. Experian is also a Target partner, and Target is world renowned for the work that they do profiling their customers.
I don't really see how A is better or more wholesome than B.
HERE is the big one Microsoft services don't share data. <That's a period right there.
Clearly, this is a huge deal for you, and I get that. For me, it's a distinction without a difference. MS creates different pools of data about me and stores it all separately. Google has one pool of data.
I don't have a problem with it. I don't.