>>>>http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/
>>>
>>>An excerpt from MS privacy statements - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx
>>>
....

>>Seems that this will apply not only to WinX users, but to all users accessing MS services, even those with earlier or other OS ?
>>From today on Craig can only point the finger to Google to first implement such policies - will be interesting if he switches from MS services ;-)
>
>There is much more.
>In addition to someone on this forum always saying that MS are not advertising like Google:
>
>Advertising ID - Windows generates a unique advertising ID for each user on a device. Your advertising ID can be used by app developers and advertising networks to provide more relevant advertising.
>
>How We Use Personal Data - Advertising. Many of our services are supported by advertising. We use the data we collect to help select the ads Microsoft delivers - whether on our own services or on services offered by third parties. The ads we select may be based on your current location, search query, or the content you are viewing. Other ads are targeted based on your likely interests or other information that we learn about you over time using demographic data, search queries, interests and favorites, usage data, and location data.
>
>The reply from MS will be you can opt-out. The problem with that is twofold (at least);
>
>1) The default is opt-in. 99.99% of Windows users will have no clue iro the above nor know how to opt-out or that it is even an option.
>2) Even if I opt-out, how can I be sure it is opted out? Everything is sent encrypted, the technology is in the system, there is no realistic way to verify the opt-out.
>
Note the reasons of MS sites not honouring Do Not Track flags ;-)
The only realistic hope for private email communication is to encrypt on air-gapped systems. All other systems and communication vectors are too integrated

>There aint no such thing as a free lunch. If you aren't paying for Windows (Facebook, Twitter, whatever, etc.) then you're what's being sold ...

Keeping development machines isolated introduces too much unneccessary work, but separating the development VM from the development target directories is already in place. Will split browser usage and perhaps move to separate linux VMs on a separate box used solely for my communication and keep that one in the routed sub-net for family and friends.

Perhaps reintroducing the floppy net via USB sticks is a good idea to keep another clunker in splendid isolation ;-) To edit personal docs, data and number sheets another older machine should be good enough, as personal stuff is done with Office97 or OfficeXP, which have no problem running on HW from last decade and in disconnected state. Might be a good idea to check if the 17' single CoreM laptop with broken CD accepts USB boot media to introduce a linux host and lonely user VM, perhaps with a tiny SSD or USB3 connector card.