this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 68 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 41 points 6 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago

We handle a lot of IP on our Windows PCs so it's debatable. However, in recent years, Microsoft has taken over most of our services with SSO, office 360, teams, etc so who knows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

That's definitely going to be a problem for them, yes, because it's also going to drive a ton of traffic to Linux and Linux is going to get even better.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I think advertisers have made some impacts to the bottom line, too. I don't have any direct evidence for this, but I used to get ads for things like Pepsi. Now it's mostly things like Larry's Pillow Case Repair or pelvic floor steaming kits.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Respectfully, it's not.

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You're assuming my source is Musk.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Number of users doesn’t matter because most people don’t close their accounts. Twitter’s actual usage and traffic is down by 20% since Elmo took over and their revenue is also massively down.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/26/twitter-usage-in-us-fallen-by-a-fifth-since-elon-musks-takeover

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Who said anything about "number of users"? "Monthly Active Users" (MAU) is the industry standard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Are you serious? The comment you replied to explicitly says “user departures”. And the article I linked is about active users.

Is this how you respond when you’re proven to be blatantly wrong about something? Totally pathetic.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago

Bruh are you for real? The article linked is about "user departures". What does that even mean? It doesn't even have any sources for any of the information provided.

Is this how you respond when you have no idea WTF you're talking about?