Once upon a time, a lot of people viewed Microsoft as the epitome of corporate omnipresence, as many of us wrote our 11-part fantasy series in Word, checked our Hotmail accounts while surfing the web on Internet Explorer, probably on a computer running Windows. But now we have Google Docs, Gmail, and Chrome, and Microsoft is taking out full-page ads warning consumers of how this other company is the one to be reviled.

Reads the ad:

Google is in the process of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products. Those changes, cloaked in language like “transparency,” “simplicity” and “consistency,” are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services.

But, the way they’re doing it is making it harder for you to maintain control of your personal information. Why are stye so interested in doing this that they would risk this kind of backlash? One logical reason: Every data point they collect and connect to you increases how valuable you are to an advertiser.

Microsoft then uses these very reasonable concerns to promote Office, Explorer, Bing and Hotmail.

To us this seems like when a former significant other tries to worm their way back into your life because they heard you’re fighting with your current sweetheart. It might be time for you to move on to someone else, but it’s probably not a good idea to go backward.

Microsoft ad: We protect your info better than Google does [SeattlePI.com]

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