Moreover, their software quality has gone downhill ever since their pervasive telemetry. I am not claiming that it is the cause of the decline, but it did not prevent it. It's curious that the version of windows which most people liked best was 7, the one without all the telemetry.

I think it's also hard to overcome the feeling that everything you do on their software is being monitored and evaluated. Even if we accept the argument that telemetry improves software through allowing them to focus on more used features, the improvements need to offset the feeling that you're being spied on, and that's a tough ask.