Historically, the comparison from Apple is simply "Spy on me - but pretend you don't through shiny advertising". What's a better is up for interpretation I think.
> How is that different than disabling Recall on first boot/setup?
Microsoft is known for being utterly user-hostile when pushing features on people. I have a gaming PC I occasionally boot up and every single time I do so it harasses me to use their cloud service in a way that very much seems like it will restrict my ability to use my own computer if I don't.
User trust is expensive to buy and cheap to relinquish!
Microsoft has shown time and time again that they will gleefully reactivate things you have disabled and they will use dark patterns to hide their intent.
Remember this option was never planned from the start and only introduced after backlash. This is what I mean by the privacy-first focus at Apple. They don't need to be pressured into doing this.
I'd argue Apple is more an "Invade the privacy but keep quiet about it" with a shiny and aggressive ad campaign toting privacy from (others, but conspicuously not apple).
How is that different than disabling Recall on first boot/setup?