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It’s a nightmare scenario for Microsoft.
That feature in question isWindows Recall, a new AI tool designed to remember everything you do on Windows.
Microsoft employs some bad practices on Windows 11 to squeeze money out of its users.
On paper, it’s a cool idea.
That database is stored locally on your machine and never uploaded to the cloud.
All of thisistrue, but that doesn’t mean people believe Microsoft when it says these things.
Microsoft employs some bad practices on Windows 11 to squeeze money out of its users.
Microsoft simply doesn’t enjoy the same benefit of the doubt that other tech giants like Apple may have.
It’s clear that Microsoft and Apple prioritize their OS platforms in very different ways.
Apple ensures its operating systems are clean, polished, and without bloat.
People think Windows Recall is malware or spyware.
Unlike iOS, iPadOS, and even Android, users and apps have complete access to the entire OS.
This means that third-party apps could reach in and grab that data to learn everything about you.
Many immediately point to malware, which is certainly a concern.
Windows Recall can’t run secretly, as it places a visual indicator on the Taskbar that cannot be removed when it’s enabled.
However, even third-party apps that you trust could potentially reach in there to learn about you.
It’s all quite concerning.
The fact that Windows is an open platform means anyone can do anything if they want to.
People think Microsoft are lying about Recall not uploading data to the cloud.
It’s the same story on Android.
Windows enjoys no such luxury, so Microsoft needs to put extra effort into ensuring Windows Recall is secure.
It needs to ensure thatonlythe Windows Recall app can read and understand that data.
People are ready to assume Microsoft will enable Windows Recall in a future update.
If that data is unencrypted, anyone can read it.
People won’t trust Windows Recall regardless of how the data is stored locally.
There’s quite a bit of hysteria over the discovery that Windows Recall stores data unencrypted.
Windows Recall went through several iterations internally… and public testing could have helped spot issues.
That’s just the sort of company people think Microsoft is like.
I think this stems from the fact that people don’t understand how Windows Recall works.
This icon cannot be hidden or moved.
Windows Recall is only enabled on new hardware.
It’s also important to remember that Microsoft has no monetary incentive to force people to use Windows Recall.
The data it collects is of no value to Microsoft, as it can’t see any of it.
But that’s hard for people to believe, and perhaps that’s rightly so.
I’ve really enjoyed using Windows Recall over the last week.
Microsoft chose to keep Windows Recall a secret, and that hasn’t helped things.
Some insider baseball here, but for some reason Microsoft was overly secretive about Windows Recall during development.
It didn’t want anyone to know about it.
Microsoft is the villain in many people’s eyes.
I can’t think of a single feature that would have benefitted from public testing more than Windows Recall.
Microsoft also wanted to keep Windows Recall a secret so it could have a big reveal on May 20.
Except, it wasn’t really much of a big reveal.
Your existing Windows 11 PC is not eligible to run Windows Recall and very likely never will be.
If you do happen to acquire a Copilot+ PC, you might choose not to use Windows Recall.
If it doesn’t, that’s just another bad Windows practice to add to the list.
It’s a shame because Windows Recall is really good.
That’s Windows Recall for me right now.
In fact, it came in clutch for this very article.
On a normal PC, that paragraph is gone, and I’d have to rewrite it from scratch.
What happens now?
So what happens now?
Will Microsoft delay Windows Recall, or maybe even cancel it?
Will people ever be able to trust it?
I don’t think Microsoft will delay or cancel it.
It would be a really bad look to have it as opt-out rather than opt-in at this current time.
Even when that happens, Windows Recall won’t be enabled on your existing gear.
