Except that Microsoft basically puts a gun to every users head to login with a Microsoft account which can/does backup the recovery keys.

If you sign into a Microsoft account during setup, Microsoft automatically turns on bitlocker and sends the key off to Microsoft for safe keeping. You are right, there are other ways to handle bitlocker, but that's way beyond most people, and I don't think Microsoft even tells you this during setup. It's honestly a lifesaver for when bitlocker breaks(and it does), but it comes at a cost. In the business world, this is seen as a huge benefit, as we aren't trying to protect from the US government, mostly petty theft and maybe some corporate espionage.

As is often the case, the real solution is Linux, but that, too, is far beyond most people until manufacturers start shipping Linux machines to big box stores and even then they'd probably not enable any encryption.