Satya said in a podcast the majority of future users for Windows/Office will be agents, not humans.
this aligns with moving in that direction.
Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
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Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
> shown they don't respect the user when they force shutdown for system updates Are you familiar with the prior state of things that explicitly motivated this change?
Are you aware that MS already sells an operating system that can install patches without rebooting? Are you also aware that Linux can do the same? Why can't a supposedly mature 40 year old operating system do the same? Do you have any concept of the number of man-hours it would save globally? The amount of lost work? The impact on patching compliance and security? My guess is they don't actually believe they have any…
every week when I login into my Ubuntu with unattended updates enabled I see this: "system restart required".
the hot patch feature you mentioned is paid
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#143How worse can this get? Let's share more product ideas for Microsoft.
Right, I always wanted a career in hell:
1. I think it should be mandatory to have your webcam and microphone on 24/7 for, uh, your safety, especially your children's safety (you never know when a pedophile will hide under your bed!). physical workarounds or disabling them is a TOS violation and will turn your machine off and unable to start again until hardware is restored (again, for your safety). Of course you also agree that all data collected this way can be used to enhance your experience with the help of our partners.
2. You need to watch 30s of an ad before you can login, youtube style. This is to get you in a good mood for the day, because it will only be products we determined you like!
3. Disable customisation: Your UI and desktop background will take the color of today's sponsor, including a small logo in every window's frame next to the close button. Window frame will increase over the years until we can show full video ads in it.
4. We will read through all your private files and sends them unencrypted to our servers. (this is for better speed! High speed is essential for this) AI will then analyse your files and write you recommendations, especially what you could buy to enhance or alleviate your current experience. Also you get clippy back, this time on the desktop, and it is a TOS violation to disable it.
5. Offers to buy items should always be accompanied by an instant-spending [buy] button, but rejecting and closing the offer requires you to type "Sorry, I don't want to buy this right now, can you please ask me for this same product again tomorrow?". This is the only way. Any typo is agreement to buy the product, because you are clearly not fully against it?
6. Because of the added online security for your personal files, you now have to pay a subscription of just $49.99/month or your device will irrecoverably encrypt all your data to keep it safe. (This update will come at a later time when you have created enough files worth protecting)
7. That Office splash screen sure takes a lot of time and is basically a lot of open white space. Better use that for more Enhanced Experiences.
8. Each login costs you 99 Windows Points, ad-free experience costs you 399 for a month. we sell you packages of 380 wp for $3.99, 800 wp for $9.99, 2000 wp for $29.99, 12,000 wp for $249.99 and our Never Worry Again Package with 50,000 wp for just $4999.99! (yes I did the math) Automatic Updates (during work ours only) require you to login again, obviously. Minor patches will somehow become more popular. For Security, your children, emotional stability, the environment, and affirmation of your identity. We are here for you!
Ok break is over, back to work.
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#144I don't want this feature. I have LaTeX documents on my computer containing my personal thoughts. Some of them I want to keep to myself. And some of them contain my own ideas that I find embarrassing. I don't want to hand those documents over to Microsoft servers, nor do I want them used for AI training. I want them to know that these deeply personal thoughts are mine.
I would recommend using Linux if you want control over this stuff. Microsoft does not, and never will, respect you or your privacy. Apple _hopefully_ does but we can't be sure. Linux is the main option if you care this much about it.
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#145>For example, if you ask ChatGPT’s Agent to book a travel, it’ll open Chromium on Linux in an Azure container, search the query, visit different websites, navigate each page and book a flight ticket using your saved credentials. An AI Agent tries to mimic a human, and it can perform tasks on your behalf while you sit back and relax. Big tech has repeatedly shown that they are not good stewards of end users' privacy a…
I think it's hilariously tone deaf that travel booking and shopping are the two examples of "agentic" AI that keep popping up.
searching for a flight and booking it is legitimately one of the most painful online things that exists. it's like the booking industry is feeding on suffering
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#146Imagine a new version of Windows being released called "Windows Optimal" In addition to Home, Professional and Pro you get to buy Optimal. The catch is that it is priced 4x the home version. You wonder why? Optimal is exactly what you think it is. A ground up 0 bloatware, 0 telemetry, 100% easily tweakable privacy and performance settings from a single screen with 0 AI features, 0 Edge and 0 games. Imagine getting yo…
You are describing Windows 11 LTSC which is a product that exists because Microsoft knows people want to turn this crap off. It is of course only available in volume licensing to keep it away from normal users. Only businesses get to control their computers.
which shows that only businesses care about that stuff.
normal people don't give a fuck, they actually like the things HN bitches about - online account, data storage and services
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#147> Instead of letting an agent act directly as you, Windows spins up this extra workspace, gives it limited access (like specific folders such as Documents or Desktop), and keeps its actions isolated and auditable. > Each agent can have its own workspace and access rules, so what one agent can see or do doesn’t automatically apply to others, and you stay in control of what they’re allowed to touch. This actually sound…
Interesting that you see the sheer amount of criticism, week after week, and assume it must be bad faith by microsoft critics rather than bad faith by microsoft.
the critics always complain about what bad thing Microsoft will do in the future, rarely about what they are actually doing
secureboot was supposedly an evil conspiracy to block running linux on computers. secureboot is everywhere now, and Linux still runs on personal computers
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#148Microsoft has gone full-blown evil corporation again. No customer validation on any of the AI cruft. No full OPT OUT. Office products are bastardized with copilot buttons everywhere. I've been a Windows user from day one and I now see a future without it. Satya had been a bright spot in Microsoft, but this blind lust for AI, especially in bed with Altman who is pure con artist, is unforgivable. Some of the investment…
> Satya had been a bright spot in Microsoft What? How? From a user's perspective, everything has gotten steadily worse under his reign. Solitaire is now a subscription service. I long for the halcyon days of Windows 8.
Solitaire is no longer free?
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. Maybe certain sensitive things are outside that folder such as browser cookies, but most users have a LOT of sensitive stuff there. "Tax forms 2023.pdf" for instance. It's similar to UAC - a good and important protection, but fundamentally if you're letting code run with access to your plain old non-administrator documents that's where the biggest data threats are.
But how is this worse? If you run an agent now, it will run with your privileges. If you run an agent after this feature, it will run with limited privileges as specified by you. Heaps of ranting here about agents sucking down private data to Microsoft servers without your knowledge, where a cursory look at this feature is to give you more control if you actually want to use agents. Sure, it might be learned reflex b…
It's worse because they're exposing these features to the kind of people who aren't running agents now.
Re: Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
#150Microsoft has gone full-blown evil corporation again. No customer validation on any of the AI cruft. No full OPT OUT. Office products are bastardized with copilot buttons everywhere. I've been a Windows user from day one and I now see a future without it. Satya had been a bright spot in Microsoft, but this blind lust for AI, especially in bed with Altman who is pure con artist, is unforgivable. Some of the investment…
> Office products are bastardized with copilot buttons everywhere.
They put copilot in notepad. NOTEPAD.