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They use dark patterns and cryptic dialog boxes to get old people to opt in.
Are you certain you don't want to enhance your Microsoft experience?
^YES, I CRAVE A LIMITED ESPERIENCE^
No one is going to opt-in to having screenshots taken of their activities on the OS. If no one opts-in then it will hinder Microsoft's original plan of collection such data for copilot. Along comes the new marketing language to soften the approach and they still collect data.
No one would opt-in to having all of their personal files sent to the cloud. But Windows managed to get my father using OneDrive even though he had no idea what it was. He was absolutely pissed when I told him. Somehow that wasn't enough to get off of windows completely though.
They're just going to do a classical boil-the-frog operation:
"You can still install it with a local account!"
Just disconnect your network cable, press this magic key combination and type this undocumented command: "MSBLAOIGKSDF /ACZSF"
They already had this feature once in Windows 10, and you don't remember because it doesn't work like that.
You forgot Step 0: make an announcement so overtly egregious that when you walk it back, the compromise sounds reasonable
The "two steps forward, one step back" maneuver. Classic.
There's no reasonable form of this.
No but there sure is a much more unreasonable form of this.
Until they flip the setting by themselves because ms tend to do that
...says the company that wanted to destroy every bit of your privacy. I don't care what they "promise", don't listen to them.
Microsoft is finished. Install Linux.
I feel like if browser history was invented today people would have the same reaction to it.
This is why I use Firefox focus on my phone
Browser history was implemented before companies massively abused privacy.
It was an honest feature for users.
We also learned a lot about security regarding password/credential extraction from browsers.
Windows Recall might be an honest feature. It might be super secure and really useful.
But Microsoft doesn't have the trust to pull this off
Browser history also holds significantly less information than a screenshot of you using your computer taken every 3 seconds
It might be super secure and really useful.
It's not.
Exactly.
Actual security happens from the ground up. It's the first consideration of every step of every module of code that has any interaction with user data.
The fact that there was any version anywhere near shipping to anyone that resulted in an unsecured database being accessible to other programs tells you that it's not possible that it's secure.
...For now...
"For only $5.99 per month you can opt out of the service! Sign up today!" - MS in the likely near future
WHY THE FUCK WOULD SOMEONE WILLINGLY OPT IN?!
Because they'll add it to the list of coercively and deceptively worded questions they force you to answer before you can use a WIndows account, phrase it so as to sound useful and harmless, and have a big friendly "Sounds great!" button and a tiny "No thanks, I prefer my life to be shit" link.
People will be deceived into opting in via some UI anti pattern like they do with the online user accounts and onedrive now.
Cause they're going to show a pop-up that advertises some "cool new feature", and the 99% of users who aren't tech literate will say yes and never think about it again.
People on this site severely overestimate how much the average person cares and their overall level of tech.
Yup. Average user doesn’t know what pop or imap is and can’t use their tv remote to change an input.
Ok, let's assume (for the sake of argument) that everything is on the up-and-up, and Microsoft will behave in a completely equitable and user-friendly way with regard to this feature going forward. Where does that leave us?
There is a spyware feature built into Windows 11. It is off by default, but a malware that wants to capture this kind of information doesn't have to install anything, and it doesn't have to run any background processes that might get caught by a system monitor or blocked by application whitelisting. All it has to do is turn this built-in feature on, and then exfiltrate the data later.
Setting this off by default doesn't remove the security issue.
Ok, let's assume (for the sake of argument) that everything is on the up-and-up, and Microsoft will behave in a completely equitable and user-friendly way with regard to this feature going forward
This is so fantastical that there's no point in even having the hypothetical discussion about it.
You're right, it's fantastical, but it's still worth talking about.
It's worth talking about as it solidifies the argument more than just assuming your opponent is acting poorly. The argument of "Even if Microsoft is a saint, it's still a bad idea. But we know Microsoft also has a history of data collection, spying, anti-patterns etc." is a much stronger argument than the latter half on its own
You're right, it's fantastical, but it's still worth talking about.
Is it though?
It's a feature which is very clearly evil and of very little benefit to the user. Only a shit business like Microsoft would even attempt it, lie about it being secure, then make it "optional" (and we all know what that means) and it will still be an insecure mess when it's done, sucking down resources from a machine I purchased for no benefit to myself.
The "feature" by it's current definition can only be conceived of by a piece of shit organisation like Microsoft.
No need to separate the art from the artist in this case, as they are perfectly aligned.
