In Microsoft's case, my guess is that it was just a research experiment. It worked pretty well on a few family photos I threw at it.

I think that the site is not even working anymore. Anyways, they said they were not keeping the images, and I have no reason to doubt it.

It's a pity that Microsoft is going only after the corporate market, Oracle style, and not trying to make money from consumers any more. That leaves Apple as about the only big independent player in that field. We could have benefited from the competition.