Everyone makes you opt-out of everything - Apple, Google, Facebook, etc - and that's only the things you *can* opt out of - most things you can't opt out of if you still want to use their service or software.
Not to get political, but I laugh myself silly every time someone goes on a rant against the NSA or GCHQ collecting metadata when google is highly likely to know where you live, where you work, your health, much metadata obtained from what searches you have made and from many of the websites you have visited and, quite possibly, what you had for lunch last Tuesday. It's almost impossible to be active on the web and not give personally identifiable information to a subsidiary or data-sharing partner of google.
To be honest, if you are concerned about privacy, stop using the internet and your smartphone. Failing that, run Ghostery or similar in your browser - it blocks most tracking which is about the best you can do.
Your fatalism is depressing. Governments, institutions, markets, they can all be influenced. It is rare that withdrawing or capitulating is the best way of exerting influence. More often, it is only the first step in a long shrinking retreat. I think the world works best when power is widely distributed. Cynicism and fatalism works against that, and only serves to concentrate power.
I think people often underestimate corporate power and influence when they obsess over government overreach, particularly because they are often entwined, but insisting that because people may (grudingly) accept a little of one they have no standing to voice concerns about the other is, plain and simple, dangerous bullshit.
There is no simple solution, so don't pretend like running Ghostrey or similar and STFU is an answer.
I'm going slow on Windows 10 for a variety of reasons. I certainly don't need it. My hardware is kind of old. Software compatibility is an issue. Even if everything went perfectly, I'd still have to devote some effort to upgrading, with minimal obvious upside. On top of that, Microsoft has created a cloud of doubt regarding upgrades, updates, etc, which is yet another cost to me with no upside. Indeed, it is a reminder of one of the main reasons I was so happy to get as far from Microsoft as possible. A key part of their business model was and remains creating confusing interlocking licensing terms designed to make you spend more money than needed in order to avoid the hassle. Completely user and customer hostile, and clearly still baked into the DNA of this newer, humbler Microsoft that I'd otherwise be interested in giving a second chance.
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