People also don't care about it as much as they used to, and companies have gotten way better at PR. I see it as a cultural shift, going from the private, offline-first computing to the this current ever-connected one. And yes, with this change, the market for privacy conscious products is vanishing, so the choices also narrow.
Windows de-telemetrization is ridiculous indeed. Scripts turn setting willy-nilly, then Windows updates does it again, it's like living in an abusive household. In regards of privacy, it's very clear that the priorities of the system is vastly different from the users', to the point where fighting it is completely moot. And this brings us to your last point, where I agree again, the turning of desktop software to online services, and websites into phone apps make any effort to take back privacy absolutely futile. While maybe not the number one priority, but a very convenient side effect that this is practically unachievable with this kind of architecture.
Windows de-telemetrization is ridiculous indeed. Scripts turn setting willy-nilly, then Windows updates does it again, it's like living in an abusive household. In regards of privacy, it's very clear that the priorities of the system is vastly different from the users', to the point where fighting it is completely moot. And this brings us to your last point, where I agree again, the turning of desktop software to online services, and websites into phone apps make any effort to take back privacy absolutely futile. While maybe not the number one priority, but a very convenient side effect that this is practically unachievable with this kind of architecture.