News New Microsoft ads tout unavailable Recall feature, don't mention it was indefinitely delayed due to privacy concerns

[Admin]

Microsoft has been running new ads exclusively about Recall functionality since July 1st. The new ads directly from the Windows X account raise questions about the future of Recall, which has been indefinitely cancelled for weeks.

New Microsoft ads tout unavailable Recall feature, don't mention it was indefinitely delayed due to privacy concerns : Read more

 

[kyzarvs]

Because no tech company runs on "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" at all...

 

[Math Geek]

they have to get the propoganda machine rolling for a while so folks can used to the idea. some nice happy, pretty people living their BEST life due to this feature.

couple months from now, the people will be screaming for it instead of refusing to use it!!

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

More like because no tech company does it better than Microsoft when it comes to spending a fortune on development of flawed and/or unpopular features, and then does everything they can to keep those features out there except actually fix them (or admit they were a waste and sunset them), all while ignoring things that people beg them to either implement or fix.

In an age where there are fewer barriers to moving to Mac or Linux than ever, Microsoft seems to be doing everything they can to push them to alternative systems short of officially releasing Microsoft 365 for Linux...

 

[ThomasKinsley]

Setting privacy concerns aside, I don't see this as a useful feature that I would often access. Usually when I want to look up something from the past it's 6-18 months ago, which is far outside of Recall's boundaries.

 

[pixelpusher220]

Setting privacy concerns aside, I don't see this as a useful feature that I would often access. Usually when I want to look up something from the past it's 6-18 months ago, which is far outside of Recall's boundaries.

My description is "This isn't tech, this is marketing thinking their on the Enterprise D". That said, having the ability to describe in plain words and find it 8 months later entirely is a logical extension of both search and backup concepts.

M$ implementation here is on par for their customer-last stupidity though.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

Setting privacy concerns aside, I don't see this as a useful feature that I would often access. Usually when I want to look up something from the past it's 6-18 months ago, which is far outside of Recall's boundaries.

That's the biggest thing that makes Recall flawed. Even if you let it eat an enormous amount of space on your drive, 10-15% of its capacity depending on your setting, it's barely going to reach back that far. To quote Microsoft:

The default allocation for Recall on a device with 256 GB will be 25 GB, which can store approximately 3 months of snapshots.

So if it takes 25GB to store 3 months worth of Recall data, it will take 50GB to store 6 months (512GB+ drive required), and 100GB to store a year (1TB+ drive required). Of course they're probably basing that on something like 40 hours of use per week, like a business computer. That's a -huge- amount of space for a feature you will likely use once in a blue moon, not to mention it's going to inevitably have a marked effect on battery life since it takes screenshots every 5 seconds then has to scan, analyze, and import everything from them into a database which is then encrypted.

Personally I think they'd get more use out of finding out a way to bypass Chromium's 90 day history limit and let Edge remember history until you clear it, like Firefox can, so you can easily find things from potentially years ago with very minimal resource usage.

 

[ThomasKinsley]

So if it takes 25GB to store 3 months worth of Recall data, it will take 50GB to store 6 months (512GB+ drive required), and 100GB to store a year (1TB+ drive required). Of course they're probably basing that on something like 40 hours of use per week, like a business computer. That's a -huge- amount of space for a feature you will likely use once in a blue moon, not to mention it's going to inevitably have a marked effect on battery life since it takes screenshots every 5 seconds then has to scan, analyze, and import everything from them into a database which is then encrypted.

What makes this worse is that they planned to use this space at a time when companies are increasingly selling devices with soldered storage for a ridiculous premium simply because they know that you are not able to upgrade it yourself.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

What makes this worse is that they planned to use this space at a time when companies are increasingly selling devices with soldered storage for a ridiculous premium simply because they know that you are not able to upgrade it yourself.

Especially since Microsoft did not require a 512GB drive as minimum for a Copilot+ PC, so if you take a 256GB drive, subtract the 40GB+ of Windows, easily 10GB+ (more likely 20GB+) for just your office and productivity programs, then tack on 25GB on top of that for Recall, that's 30% of your space gone before you even do anything.

For reference my Windows & Program Files folders (no games), total a bit over 80GB

 

[vijosef]

It can even remember memories you never had.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

It can even remember memories you never had.

So does Google, they call them "Sponsored Results".

 

[CmdrShepard]

What a racist ad, are they saying people of color have bad memory and need help?

/s

 

[Dr3ams]

I can use OneNote to record and recall just about anything I want. For example: I use OneNote to save web pages, record audio and video notes, create photo albums, write short stories, etc...etc..and so on.

I don't want a program that automatically records everything that I do on my computer...similar to what hackers do with apps like key loggers. I regularly auto delete history from my PC. Not because I have something to hide, but because these days anything, and I mean anything, can be used against you if subjected to manipulation tech like AI.

For this reason I keep all of my important documents, files and notes offline and off of my PC (archived on external drives).

 

[Geef]

I regularly auto delete history from my PC.

Maybe programs like CCleaner will add an option on them to automatically check if Microsoft has re-enabled the recorder after the last update.
Save a tiny bit of hassle?

 

[MacZ24]

I'm pretty sure there is a ton of companies and governments that are positively delighted at the idea that their new OS is watching everything that they do (may or may not).

Of course, it's not like US intelligence agencies have been caught again and again spying even on allies.

This is a recipe for suicide/serfdom for anyone outside the US.

But that's what countries do when they're sinking.

That and censorship because the truth is problematic. LOL.