Sorry but no, as was pointed out before Win32 or not, there is nothing justifiable about locking the search engine.
Is the Xbox One reveal debacle with the always-on-kinect, non-tradeable games and always-online requirement really that far behind us that people have forgotten?
Does no one remember the Windows 10 spying even today?
If there is one thing I can be certain of under pain of death and that is that Microsoft never does anything that is pro-consumer.