# When did Microsoft become so creepy? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 23, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730 "2016-08-23T12:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/21 "2016-08-24T02:40:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When you signed up for an e-mail account. In this day and age, it’s impossible to have a functional e-mail account without your provider doing this. You think that’s bad, wait until you learn that Microsoft also deletes most of your mail without even asking you about it. That’s not true. I use Gmail, and it does not ever act on anything in my mail without asking. Not even for ads, since I’ve turned tailored ads off, and only use it on my phone (no ads) or with adblock. Not even adding someone to my contacts as I turned that off. And it never deletes an email without asking. It puts it in the Spam folder, which gives me 30 days or so to tell it “No, I don’t want that deleted.” And, unlike for Microsoft, I can still shut that off, albeit with a filter hack. I don’t think I was forced to import my contacts, but it wouldn’t matter anyways. None of my contacts have email addresses unless I would want to email them, which means that I have them on my Gmail contact list, too. The only downside to Gmail is that it absolutely enforces that required phone number. My main account was apparently grandfathered in, but the other two were not, so I don’t use them. And I can’t make new ones without a number. So that is the only reason I use a Microsoft account. But I check it through Gmail. The OP may want to, too. Or at least use another email client. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/22 "2016-08-24T02:50:00Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Me too. I use Google, not MS, (mostly out of habit) but I like having my calendar connected to my email. I like my email program to have all my contacts. Everyone I’ve talked to since 2003 is in my contact list. What do I care? I don’t care if Google knows that I’ve just stopped off at Starbucks. It’s harder to sort through them, and you get a lot of junk contacts autocompleting when you want to send an email. And I can’t find any such option for Google Calendar. Which makes sense. Why would you assume I’ve agreed to attend the event? I can add it to my calendar if I choose to, but it does not do it for me. Maybe I might give certain people permission to add stuff, like my boss or something. But not just because I got an email. How easy would it be to annoy the hell out of people that way? They’d constantly get notifications for fake events. It’s just seems really, really dumb. (In OP’s case, why would you need a notification for when a package arrives? What’s the point? They’ll deliver it and knock.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/23 "2016-08-24T11:15:21Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > If this is hitting you hard as an example of off-the-charts creepiness, I think you’d better sit down before you find out anything else that’s happened in the last 15 years. … or expectations about the next 15… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/24 "2016-08-24T11:17:12Z")
BigT, you may wish to have multiple email addresses: one for real people, one for companies. That’s how I keep from accidentally generating spam in my personal email account. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/25 "2016-08-24T11:17:50Z")
MIcrosquash. Heh. It’s funny because it’s not the real name. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/26 "2016-08-24T11:34:47Z")
Ha! Check this out: Micro$oft … I just kill myself with humor… ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/27 "2016-08-24T11:54:51Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > As for reading your messages, Gmail has been doing that, and feeding you ads on the basis of their content, forever. I presume Microsoft and most other mail services do the same. We have to use IE at work, I’m shocked, shocked [del]that there’s gambling going on in here[/del] how quickly from me visiting one site to their cookies appearing on the next site. I know they’re doing it but Gmail has never sent me an email telling me they’re reading my emails & decided to be helpful & take action on my behalf. > [@BigT](#): > > So that is the only reason I use a Microsoft account. But I check it through Gmail. The OP may want to, too. Or at least use another email client. This was an email received in my inbox, both thru the phone app & on my PC, & therefore, presumably if I checked it thru Gmail or some other third-party email reader. > [@BigT](#): > > (In OP’s case, why would you need a notification for when a package arrives? What’s the point? They’ll deliver it and knock.) I spent ≈ $30 on something fun from ebay & it’s coming from overseas. Yes those are the dates given (≈ 5 weeks out). Most times when I’ve ordered something from ebay that’s being shipped from overseas it comes much sooner than the 5-6 week expected delivery. However, I’m still not sure why I need a two-day appointment for the mailman to leave something at my door. either I’ll get an updated delivery status email or I’ll just see it when I open the door. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/28 "2016-08-24T11:59:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > (In OP’s case, why would you need a notification for when a package arrives? What’s the point? They’ll deliver it and knock.) Because I need to leave my job to go pick it up. If they can give me a range that’s one hour or less I can do that; otherwise it’s going to be the “we were here and you were not” dance. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/29 "2016-08-24T12:12:24Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > That’s wrong. What _should’ve_ happened is, Clippy should’ve popped up and said “Hi! Did you mean to say “let’s discuss this” or “let’s talk about this”?” Clippy died, unmourned and unmissed, 12 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/30 "2016-08-24T13:06:59Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > christ, the way some people talk about Microsoft, you’d think it was 1995 and Bill Gates was still monitoring everyone’s activities from his sunless warren beneath Fort Redmond. Don’t be silly. He moved his doom bunker to Mercer Island _years_ ago. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/31 "2016-08-24T15:24:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **BigT** : > > And it never deletes an email without asking. It puts it in the Spam folder, which gives me 30 days or so to tell it “No, I don’t want that deleted.” And, unlike for Microsoft, I can still shut that off, albeit with a filter hack. Anything that has the slightest chance of being legitimate, it puts in the spam folder. The really extreme stuff, though, it doesn’t even do that: It just deletes it outright. Just as an experiment, try signing up for a free e-mail address that doesn’t have a spam filter, and compare what shows up there to what shows up in Gmail’s spam folder. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/32 "2016-08-24T15:59:38Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > However, they must have recently slipped a change into the ToS that blow them off the charts of the creep-o-meter scale. Is your sense tingling? ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/33 "2016-08-24T16:15:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Clippy died, unmourned and unmissed, 12 years ago. WHAT?! ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/34 "2016-08-24T17:20:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 1975 See, now I would have said 1977. In 1975 they were just acting a little odd but hadn’t quite creeped out yet. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/35 "2016-11-15T12:52:46Z")
**Bumpdate:** In the past 42 days I’ve recevied 15 emails from them about “activities” on my calendar for the day. Four were alerting me to special days: Columbus Day, Halloween, Voting Day & Veteran’s Days. The rest were either, “You don’t have any events or tasks today.” or alerting me to a all-day appointment of a package delivery from e-bay. However, they were wrong on the delivery date on all but one of the deliveries & I’m still not sure why I need a reminder for the mundane task of getting the mail, but only on certain though. :rolleyes: [del]More junk email[/del] Useless calendar updates, but only on ⅓ of the days; now there’s something I really need! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/36 "2016-11-15T15:11:26Z")
For heaven’s sake, the president of the company was Uncle Fester until very recently. How do you expect such a company to NOT be creepy? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730/37 "2016-11-15T15:15:39Z")
That joke never gets old, no matter how often it is repeated by you. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microsoft-become-so-creepy/763730.md?page=1)