A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back ( www.windowscentral.com )

It's a nightmare scenario for Microsoft. The headlining feature of its new Copilot+ PC initiative, which is supposed to drive millions of PC sales over the next couple of years, is under significant fire for being what many say is a major breach of privacy and security on Windows. That feature in question is Windows Recall, a new AI tool designed to remember everything you do on Windows. The feature that we never asked and never wanted it.

Microsoft, has done a lot to degrade the Windows user experience over the last few years. Everything from obtrusive advertisements to full-screen popups, ignoring app defaults, forcing a Microsoft Account, and more have eroded the trust relationship between Windows users and Microsoft.

It's no surprise that users are already assuming that Microsoft will eventually end up collecting that data and using it to shape advertisements for you. That really would be a huge invasion of privacy, and people fully expect Microsoft to do it, and it's those bad Windows practices that have led people to this conclusion.

naeap ,
@naeap@sopuli.xyz avatar

Microsoft has built a number of safety features into Windows Recall to ensure that the service can't run secretly in the background. When Windows Recall is enabled, it places a permanent visual indicator icon on the Taskbar to let the user know that Windows Recall is capturing data. This icon cannot be hidden or moved.

Oh my, that one is really cute

uriel238 ,
@uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Malware will disable that icon. Law enforcement will buy [that] malware.

phoneymouse ,

Well find out in 10 years that that wasn’t true and that it did capture data when the icon wasn’t present whoopsies.

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar
If chkCaptureData.checked then
   recall()
   bigNotify()
Else
   recall()
End
dmtalon ,

Ya, a PR nightmare for the next 15 minutes until the next unbelievable thing comes along and the ADD nature of people forgets windows is watching everything they do.

FlashMobOfOne ,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

That's usually what I think too, but after watching how Twitter's gone to shit since the two big user departures, I think this could legitimately affect Microsoft's bottom line.

Voytrekk ,
@Voytrekk@lemmy.world avatar

That will rely on businesses moving away from Windows. That is where they make a ton of their money with Enterprise licenses and Office 365 subscriptions.

Infynis ,
@Infynis@midwest.social avatar

And businesses don't give a shit about their employees' privacy

Starkstruck ,

They do care about keeping their company secrets and proprietary info though. Recall could make corporate espionage a cake walk.

n0pe ,

If you look at sysadmin forums and groups it seems like most recommend disabling recall. Just about every enterprise will have confidentiality, security, or legislative requirements that recall is simply inconsistent with. It's understandably been a hot topic.

FlashMobOfOne ,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

Yup. It'll depend on how they handle Recall at the institutional level.

It's a given that hospitals and law firms will have to turn it off, as they're required by law to honor privilege. We'll see what choices they make.

I find the nosedive in Twitter's stock price these last few years encouraging. It seems for many there is a red line.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Twitter is a great example of the exact opposite being true. Are people upset? Absolutely. Did they leave the platform? Nope. Maybe a small percentage.

FlashMobOfOne ,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

Respectfully, it's not.

The user departures, and response to further enshittify, have driven their stock price into the ground.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

What user departures? The platform has barely dipped. Stock prices are meaningless.

bufalo1973 ,
@bufalo1973@lemmy.ml avatar

X is the one telling the number of X users. Do you really trust Melon to tell the truth?

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

You're assuming my source is Musk.

Confused_Emus ,

So far in this thread only one person has actually shared a source of any kind. Care to share with the class?

Powerpoint ,

Twitter definitely lost a ton of users and tons continue to leave. That's why advertisers have pulled out and their stock price has tanked. Twitter is a bad example

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Twitter definitely lost a ton of users and tons continue to leave.

Define "tons"? As a percentage, it is miniscule, and it remains the place where politicians, companies and other entities make public announcements. It's also, for some reason, the only platform supported for customer support from various companies.

metaldream ,

lol, literally just making stuff up. Their number of active users dropped by 15-20% since Elmo took over: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/26/twitter-usage-in-us-fallen-by-a-fifth-since-elon-musks-takeover

BroBot9000 ,
@BroBot9000@lemmy.world avatar

It’s X.

Stop deadnaming X.

Anyone still clinging to the remnants of its former existence, please close your account. Stop kidding yourself.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I'll never NOT call it Twitter, and you can't make me.

BroBot9000 ,
@BroBot9000@lemmy.world avatar

You say that but deep down you know it’s Elon Musk’s X now. The dream is no more. You’re an X’er Harry!

AlligatorBlizzard ,

I'll stop deadnaming Twitter when Musk stops deadnaming his trans daughter.

And for the record, I've never used Twitter. It's always kinda sucked. Now it really sucks.

BroBot9000 ,
@BroBot9000@lemmy.world avatar

Musk is a complete shithead and that’s not gonna happen.

Calling it Twitter is only going to accommodate the people that refuse to get off that nazi network.

Cause you know Musk gets off on the hate of people still calling it Twitter, exactly because how he treats deadnaming.

blind3rdeye ,

What's X? Is that the older version of Wayland or something?

BroBot9000 ,
@BroBot9000@lemmy.world avatar

It’s a shittier version of Mastodon but for right wing lunatics and russian bots.

dmtalon ,

I believe the biggest thing that will hurt MS is moving to subscription. The vast majority of users aren't gonna wanna have a forever fee when they buy a laptop/PC

dinckelman ,

A lot of people would have huge bursts of negativity about this, but at the same time remain stubborn enough to not even consider evaluating alternatives. Microsoft and Apple spent decades making sure this would work

dmtalon ,

For now at least, I block as much telemetry at the network level (DNS level) using pihole.

Annoys my wife and kid at times. I try to explain why and what it means but convenience is king unfortunately.

dinckelman ,

My mom only really browses the web, writes emails, and edits and occasional document. I've given her my old XPS 9350, with Fedora installed on it, and she's been very happy with it. Keeps saying that everything just makes sense, and when she needs something, it's easy to find. She's far from tech savvy, but not completely clueless either

dmtalon ,

That's cool!

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