"Satya Nadella says Windows PCs will have a photographic memory feature called Recall that will remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots"

X ^ | 5/20/2024 | @Tsarnick; Satya Nadella CEO, Microsoft; WSJ’s Joanna Stern

[ransomnote]

ransomnote: Transcript below.

Click to view the 1 minute video on X (watermarked @tsarnick)

May 20, 2024

 

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS~~~~~~~~~~

Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft): How do we introduce memory,right?

Photographic memory into what you do on the PC

And now we have it. So it's called Recall.

It's not keyword search.

It's semantic search over all your history.

And it's not just about any document, we can recreate moments from the past essentially.

WSJ’s Joanna Stern (interviewer, provides demonstration): Here's how it works.

Windows constantly takes screen shots of what's on your screen, then uses a generative AI model right on the device along with the NPU to process all that data and make it searchable, even photos.

I got to try it out. I searched "brown leather bag."

It came up in visual search. There's no place on this page that it says "brown leather bag". It just knows because it sees (ransomnote: the image of) this brown leather bag.

WSJ’s Joanna Stern (interviewer, now speaking to Satya Nadella ): There could be this reaction from some people that this is pretty creepy. Microsoft is taking screenshots of everything I do.

Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft): Yeah. I mean that's why that you can only do it on the edge. So you have to put two things together. This is my computer; this is my Recall. And it's all being done locally.

TRANSCRIPT ENDS~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[dayglored]

> ...one might have to give them up completely on Windows if this can’t be circumvented.

If it gives you a software "switch" to "disable" the function, I recommend that you not believe it. First, it could be a partial or total lie, and second, subsequent Windows Updates can easily revert it to "enabled" -- that's common practice.

This is pretty nasty overall. The only way to avoid it for sure will be to avoid new releases of Windows entirely.

[ducttape45]

Not on my computer!

[Bob434]

There is a program called rollback rx where it takes snapshots, and can “rollback to any saved point” in order to fix a computer that has been infected by virus or ransomeware, or just got messed up. It could either take snapshots automatically, or manually, and the user could delete snapshots at anytime (but you had to be sure to do so as it would fill hard drive quickly )

Was a great program which really saved my bac9n several times back in the day when viruses were rampant and browsers didn’t catch them.

Howver- not sure that this article snapshot idea is the same principle, and no waywould I sent Microsoft any info intentionally - they are getting far too intrusive.

[dayglored]

> I wish Linux was an option for me. I use some high end CAD, CAM, FEA and CFD software that are only available on windows.

Are you able to run those programs without an active internet connection? If so, consider the option of sticking with your current version of Windows (or an older one if the program requires it), and drop the internet connection. I have a VM of Windows 7 I keep around for that purpose. Being a VM, it's easy to isolate it, even while the host computer (Linux, MacOS, etc.) is active on the internet.

[CodeToad]

Linux is almost there as a consumer operating system. Damned close. I hope it gets there.

[Golden Eagle]

If it gives you a software "switch" to "disable" the function, I recommend that you not believe it.

For real, and why I used the term ‘cirmcumvent’ LOL. My guess is it would be a Service that could be manually set to Disabled, and then even remove key registry parts, at a minimum. But there probably is a market for it, just not with me, and many others.

[Still Thinking]

Suck it, Carvile’s Twin.

[fireman15]

With Recall, however, you're getting deep, native integration into Windows, while Rewind is a third-party app you have to install and hand over system permissions.

I can never quite figure Satya Nadella out. He has made many disturbing statements over the years. They typically turn out to be nothing burgers. Is he the true leader of Microsoft or a figurehead that can be thrown under the bus to satisfy people when Microsoft gets caught with their fingers in the cookie jar? Why don't they use an underling to announce this type of nonsense.

Microsoft and all of the big tech entities want to have as much of your personal information as possible for marketing purposes. But there are obviously other more nefarious possibilities. Taking refuge by switching to Linux or switching to a different type of phone likely has little impact on this type of misbehavior in most cases.

Oracle, IBM, Red Hat, Novell, not to mention Google, Microsoft and many other corporate interests invest heavily in Linux. Almost everything going into the kernels these days is paid, sponsored, or commissioned. Most people like to imagine the work is being done by idealistic computer nerds working for nothing. This is mostly a myth at this point. How many people do you know who like to spend their days working for nothing to fix programming issues. I have never met someone like that, and I have been farting around with digital technology since I was in the 5th grade. When I started... learning how to use a soldering iron was a more important skill than actual programming.

Unlike Microsoft it is much harder to pin down who put in a backdoor when one is actually discovered. Is it a big problem? Probably not, but people have a false sense of security. People know very little about the true origins of most flavors of Linux these days. Reading through the posts on various threads here gives one a pretty good idea of how much people desire to assign blame to the easily identifiable boogie men and want to believe that there is a safe and viable alternative.

Yesterday, I started up a couple of the Ubuntu Studio installations that I hadn't started for a couple of months. They each took hundreds of updates for the operating system and apps installed... and I have not installed that much extra fluff. I have no idea what all those updates were actually for... I just let it do its thing. Windows typically does maybe half a dozen updates if you haven't started the machine in a while.

[fireman15]

Here is one of my favorite openings for the IT Crowd television show that is a funny parody of Facebook. But it also summarizes the concern management of most Big Tech companies have for their user's privacy fairly well.

https://youtu.be/hE0orX3TjvA

[martin_fierro]

Since like Vista, yeah.

[Rocco DiPippo]

A year ago I did have my studio rig set up as dual boot running Win10 and Ubuntu.

After a motherboard failure I reinstalled Windows and never bothered reinstalling Linux.

Since I now have a Windows tablet set up to display input levels of my recording interface I use that tablet to also surf when I'm in the studio and need to get online. But yes, dual boot worked just fine and Ubuntu's excellent.

[daniel1212]

Unlike Microsoft it is much harder to pin down who put in a backdoor when one is actually discovered. Is it a big problem? Probably not, but people have a false sense of security. People know very little about the true origins of most flavors of Linux these days. Reading through the posts on various threads here gives one a pretty good idea of how much people desire to assign blame to the easily identifiable boogie men and want to believe that there is a safe and viable alternative.

Yesterday, I started up a couple of the Ubuntu Studio installations that I hadn't started for a couple of months. They each took hundreds of updates for the operating system and apps installed... and I have not installed that much extra fluff. I have no idea what all those updates were actually for... I just let it do its thing. Windows typically does maybe half a dozen updates if you haven't started the machine in a while.

Thanks for the input. I delay Windows updates for 90 days after allowing one - which may mean "fixing" a supposed improvement. And Linux rarely should warrant updates.

And I think that smartphones are the least trustworthy devices. And inferior for most computing functions (including moving files) but relative few users seek to enhance efficiency of their desktop PCs - if they even have one anymore.

[fireman15]

It is always a pleasure reading your posts. I started another one of my Ubuntu Studio installations that I hadn't used for about 3 months last weeks. We have several laptops and I have them all set up to dual boot. Ubuntu Studio has a bunch of content creation apps built in and I have added others to my installations. They can access data from Windows partitions.

My entry point is not obvious. When you start the computer you have to hit escape within 5 seconds and then choose to start from the Ubuntu partition. What I have installed in Windows cannot easily see what is stored on my Linux partitions. So, sensitive data is a little more secure. So there is a little method to my madness... If for some reason Windows gets screwed up, I still have easy access to all of my data. This Ubuntu Studio installation that I started most recently took 155 updates, which is about what the others did. They were mostly all very small, and the process did not take very long... It would have taken as long or longer to review what they were actually for. I don't have any nags to update in Ubuntu and I have to authorize for the updates to be installed. I have often delayed Windows Updates... This is one of the primary reasons that I have pro-versions installed on any computer that is used for important purposes. It is completely out of laziness that I have not bothered to do this much lately. I agree completely that smartphones are the most worrisome devices as far as any form of security is concerned. It seems ironic that just about every financial institution pushes their customers into using their apps. A good percentage of people have almost no idea that their phones are often the biggest threat to their financial security. If someone gets ahold of your phone and is able to get into your Google account, all sorts of mayhem can result depending on how much you have stored on your phone and/or Google servers. It scares the heck out of me. The thing that I find funny about our resident Linux advocates is that most do not seem to realize that Android is a Linux based OS. Typical young people today are tied to their phones more than to their computers. Linux has already beaten Microsoft in the phone arena. Of course, Apple now has 60% of the smart phone market in the US. In most ways iPhones are more secure... But at this point in time, I have a stronger aversion to Apples policies more than I do to Google and Microsoft policies. But that could change.

[fireman15]

I am sorry, I forgot to save my last post with formatting, so it all ended up mostly in one long paragraph.

[TChad]

Yeah. I mean that's why that you can only do it on the edge. So you have to put two things together. This is my computer; this is my Recall. And it's all being done locally.

At least he has a sense of humor!