On LinkedIn someone in my network pointed out that, apart from the security and privacy disaster, the name Recall was a bad choice because of negative events like product recall.
They should have named it “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. ;)
Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
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Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#392Maybe a bit off-topic, but I sure wish they'd do this for OneDrive! I installed Windows for personal use for the first time recently (although I use it exclusively at work) and it drove me ABSOLUTELY BONKERS that my home drive was mapping to C:\Users\atribecalledqst\OneDrive. What I hated the most was that the File Explorer just calls the folders in there e.g. "Documents" and "Pictures" without showing the full path.…
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Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
Microsoft has made misleading statements regarding encryption [0] and it doesn’t help much. Encryption at rest doesn’t much matter if the user being logged in is enough for the data to be decrypted. This is the context malware runs in. https://doublepulsar.com/recall-stealing-everything-youve-ev...
That's old information. This is how Microsoft is intending to change Recall based on these criticisms: Microsoft will also require Windows Hello to enable Recall, so you’ll either authenticate with your face, fingerprint, or using a PIN. “In addition, proof of presence is also required to view your timeline and search in Recall,” says Davuluri, so someone won’t be able to start searching through your timeline without…
"Old" is a bit of a stretch here ;)
But I'm glad to hear they've committed to making changes. Given the misrepresentations they made regarding the initial rollout plan (the target of most criticism, mine included), Microsoft has to prove themselves here and I'll wait until qualified security folks get their hands on this before coming to any conclusions.
What we know is that the initial version was a non-starter, and this new info validates the concerns we've all been expressing.
I truly hope Microsoft does an acceptable job of addressing this. It remains baffling and worrisome that it took a public outcry for them to implement what sounds like a baseline level of acceptable protection.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#394I don't understand how recall even got launched. No one should have spent money developing it. Yes, the idea is cool. But even if you trust Microsoft it's obviously a privacy and security nightmare. How many people would install a keylogger on their own system? And then make that keylogger trivial to search through? It just makes windows computers extremely valuable targets for hackers and I'll ban them on my network…
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Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hang around kids and even though they can be pretty good at using a computer, they have no clue how the thing actually works. They don't know what a file is anymore. Everything is a shiny little icon in a shiny little magic folder. Not trying to make this sound like a value judgment, more an observation. But it makes you wonder, what do we lose by excessive abstraction.
This isn't excessive abstraction - this is just different abstraction. Files and folders are a human invention, and there's no law of nature forcing us to continue using them. It's like complaining about people forgetting how to use MS-DOS commands, when Windows (until PowerShell) was built on GUIs through and through and MS-DOS commands were only still there for compatibility. You don't have to learn MS-DOS command…
Nah. The files and folders still exist on all of these systems. So hiding them away is actually more abstraction, not “different” abstraction.
UX prognosticators have been preaching for decades that anything that computer users find confusing should simply be hidden. Not made more clear, or easier to use, but just papered over so users can no longer identify a specific thing to complain about. It’s just like the weirdos who try to get rid of the address bar on web browsers every few years, but the filesystem haters have been a lot more successful, and computers are more confusing as a result. You don’t solve confusion by hiding it behind a thin layer of paint. All the same problems still exist, but there’s no longer a way for experts to even try to help. There are so many better ways to simplify computing than pretending it’s magic.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#396In all the MS Recall drama, I've yet to hear or read one single person utter something to the effect of "Wow - great!!! - I've been waiting for something like this for years! This will solve at least one of the major issues I face regularly!". In fact, it seems to me the only people that really want this feature are the ones trying to push it down everyones collective throat. Why is MS pushing something so hard when…
To be fair, people recording their full terminal and browsing history forever is a topic that has come up regularly in HN submissions. It’s certainly something people find a worthwhile idea.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#397The first big mis-step of the Nadella era. Will be interesting to hear what he has to say when he's inevitably asked to comment in his next public appearance.
Windows 11 and its hardware requirements arguably is a big misstep already.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hang around kids and even though they can be pretty good at using a computer, they have no clue how the thing actually works. They don't know what a file is anymore. Everything is a shiny little icon in a shiny little magic folder. Not trying to make this sound like a value judgment, more an observation. But it makes you wonder, what do we lose by excessive abstraction.
This isn't excessive abstraction - this is just different abstraction. Files and folders are a human invention, and there's no law of nature forcing us to continue using them. It's like complaining about people forgetting how to use MS-DOS commands, when Windows (until PowerShell) was built on GUIs through and through and MS-DOS commands were only still there for compatibility. You don't have to learn MS-DOS command…
No, those shiny app icons are still using folders and files, that part is just being hidden from users to where they have less understanding of how things actually work.
Phones aren't secretly using Roman numerals or tiny embedded abacuses though. If they were for whatever reason, there would be plenty of value in learning those systems.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
Non-sycophant employees are shut down and ignored once the whole corporate culture has bought in to the hype du jour. If you are the sole dissenter, it can even make you look like a “bad” employee for not recognizing the “opportunity” that the new hyped thing will supposedly bring.
AKA time to leave
In this job market? Employee leverage is at a low ebb right now.
Re: Microsoft will switch off Recall by default after security backlash
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't excessive abstraction - this is just different abstraction. Files and folders are a human invention, and there's no law of nature forcing us to continue using them. It's like complaining about people forgetting how to use MS-DOS commands, when Windows (until PowerShell) was built on GUIs through and through and MS-DOS commands were only still there for compatibility. You don't have to learn MS-DOS command…
storing things "in apps" still makes a file on a filesystem, but it's less reliable and the user doesn't know where it is
Storing things "in files" still writes a CHS-addressed sector on a disk, but it's less reliable and the user doesn't know where it is.
Files are currently used to implement apps, but that can be seen as a transitional measure, like an OS that supports both files and raw disk access. A fully app-based OS without files, though not existing currently, would be possible.
Another idea the industry discarded was to make the disk a big SQL database, again without files.