They would not have to pretend. Marketing a separate brand with its own identity is a common practice. How many people who stay at a W hotel or a Ritz Carlton or a Sheraton are aware that these brands are actually owned by Marriott? How many people who stay at a Waldorf Astoria know that it's owned by Hilton? These are not secrets. 80% of the world's economy is controlled by fewer than 1000 companies [1].

[1] https://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1107/1107.5728v2.pdf

And then a few days later see a HN top story that NewPrivateSearchEngine is a secret Microsoft conspiracy to destroy the world? I doubt it would go over well.

If you're going to indulge in that level of paranoia, how do you know that DDG is not itself a secret Microsoft conspiracy to destroy the world? If you don't know the terms under which DDG licenses Bing's search results, how do you know that those terms don't give MS complete control over DDG?

I think I was too snide in my comment and it wasn't clear.

I meant that if Microsoft launched a privacy-focused product and hid their involvement with it they would receive extremely negative publicity on the sort of websites people who use privacy-focused products read.

Completely leaving aside the harm that would cause to the Microsoft brand, it would also be completely useless. Essentially no one would switch from DDG to Microsoft's (hypothetical) shady clone.

Your hotel examples aren't relevant because people searching for hotels and people searching for private search engines don't evaluate details about corporate ownership the same.

There is a difference between hiding your involvement and not going out of your way to draw attention to it.

Yes. Do you believe that a HN discussion of a company owned by Microsoft that doesnt draw attention to that and which markets towards privacy-focused users would he received positively?

Do you believe that an HN discussion has the potential to move the market share needle for any MS product? More to the point, do you believe that Microsoft thinks this?

If that product is aimed at privacy-focused users, yes.

We've gotten so far into unlikely hypotheticals I don't find this conversation interesting any more. I won't reply further in this chain. Have a nice day!