is there any need to cause false hysteria and alarm? You must assume that people won't read the entire articles and will take the initial impression and hate MS.
Quick summary for the impatient.
article 1 - XP asks you a few times if you want to sign up for their passport service to utilize a variety of web based features they offer. You don't have to sign up and it only occurs during the install. This doesn't appease to a database administrator in georgia therefore we must sound the alarms.
article 2 - when an error occurs in XP data that is sent to MS regarding the error will include whatever was present in memory at the time which would reveal what was being done/worked on when the error occured. This feature is entirely optional and asks your permission before sending the relevant data to microsoft. The notification can be turned off so it never even asks you.
Is this reason to hate an entire company, one who's products you are probably using right now? Or is an attempt to cause problems where problems have yet to be caused?
Microsoft is a business and perhaps one of the most successful in the world. If this bothers you then you should stop using their products as some people have. There are perfectly viable alternatives ranging from kmail to staroffice.
You will soon forget the power of excel, visio, outlook, etc, because you are no longer using the products of a company you "hate."