I just don't think that's an accurate picture. They aren't recording your voice and storing it somewhere. Browsing and search history are collected by other platforms for predictive browse ahead and autocomplete, and it's a useful feature. App usage is collected for diagnostic purposes.
You don't have to use a MS account. You can use a local account. 10 is different from windows 8 in that regard. You can take Cortana off the taskbar. Use a different browser in incognito mode all the time. Store your encryption keys in a TPM, smartcard, or Active Directory. There are actually lots of options. You have to actually look into it though.
So, a second ago it was that you can't use a local account...but you can, so now it's..."The defaults are bad and people are dumb."
Literally all of the people who install it or buy a PC with it installed have the choice of making that decision or purchase.
And you're right, they won't change the defaults and that's not a travesty of some kind. It actually really doesn't matter to most people. Not because they don't understand it. They do, and they want to use it for one reason or another. People in our technical circles overestimate the importance of this stuff by some fairly crazy amounts.
Since I can't reply to your reply I'm going to post here.
These problems are not mutually exclusive. They are all serious problems.
And you seriously think most people know what that stuff means?
"Oh! Gee thanks Microsoft. Record everything I type in the operating system to make your autocorrect better" or whatever the hell they do with it.
They absolutely do not then realize that when they named a file "my-pot.jpg" and then search for "pot" in Cortana (which is stored by the way.. even for local searches) that information could be used against them in the future.
You don't have to use a MS account. You can use a local account. 10 is different from windows 8 in that regard. You can take Cortana off the taskbar. Use a different browser in incognito mode all the time. Store your encryption keys in a TPM, smartcard, or Active Directory. There are actually lots of options. You have to actually look into it though.