A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back

https://lemm.ee/post/34071304

A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back - lemm.ee

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.

I don’t want to be the guy that always says Linux, but… …Linux

It is okay to be the person that always recommends Linux, especially if you are a kind person with the patience to explain things to people in approachable terms (and you don’t just scream at people SOMEBODY ALREADY ASKED THIS QUESTION USE SEARCH whenever a newbie walks in the door and asks the obvious questions a newbie would ask).

Now is the time, Linux is ready and Microsoft is shitting the bed upstairs, NOW is the time to walk straight out the front door, learn Linux and never look back and leave Microsoft sitting confused on the porcelain throne wondering why they were abandoned and where all the toilet paper is (we are the toilet paper in this metaphor).

Most people aren’t going to bother when the specific software they want to use aren’t supported.
Microsoft has been relying on that for >20 years now and it’s starting to show signs of strain.
I’ve heard this before.
So you don’t think there’s a straw breaking the camel’s back?

I think people are happy to eat shit. They’ll complain about it, sure. But they’ll slurp it up like ice cream.

Otherwise, MTX heavy games wouldn’t be rewarded so heavily.

Early on, you’ll see some movement. Some people will transfer to Linix - most will go back. A bunch of outraged threads.

But it will die down. People will just accept it. They always do. They always will.

But it will die down. People will just accept it. They always do. They always will.

I understand the frustration and cynicism that comes from wanting something to happen and waiting a good stretch of your life for it to do so but I am sorry, this is not reflective of reality.

Don’t mistake your own fatigue for the behavior of people in general.

Well they said the same about ai and at skme point it became true enough to be a problem
I’m trying to see a correlation.
True but there is less and less stuff that you cannot do properly on linux.

I mean… how big really is the category of software tasks that you can’t properly do on Linux in 2024? I feel like it is getting to the point where you do genuinely have to be specific about what Linux can’t do that is a dealbreaker for you rather than just falling back on “Linux can’t do what people need to do” as a general criticism of it.

Windows can’t do what people need it to do, and it fails to do so while sucking up your private data (which if you work at a business with confidential information IS a dealbreaker). At least when Linux fails it usually isn’t simultaneously violating the IT security structure of your organization….

Oh i totally agree with you. I have a feeling that the only real obstacle on the way out from windows is proprietary software, especially adobe and some custom apps for specific hardware.

SOMEBODY ALREADY ASKED THIS QUESTION USE SEARCH

I don’t understand this approach, if you don’t want to answer, just don’t answer. Why would you waste time writing that you won’t answer?

I will not answer this. Just search.
I thought you were a search engine.