> Other than an irrational fear of them „phoning home“

At what point do we just call you people hopelessly naive and move on?

Microsoft? Spying on you? Inconceivable!

The US government? Spying on you through US companies? Inconceivable!

Nevermind that we have hundreds of known examples of the US government approaching Google or microsoft and forcing their hand in wiretapping their systems. And nevermind there was once a point in time where all internet traffic in the US was wiretapped. And nevermind that Microsoft's privacy policy, which YOU SIGN, outright says they will spy on you.