Friday, June 14th 2024
Microsoft Delays Controversial "Recall" Feature for Windows 11 24H2
Microsoft has made a last-minute decision to pull its much-debated "Recall" feature from the Windows 11 24H2 update set to launch on June 18th. Instead, the company will roll out Recall as a preview through the Windows Insider Program while it works to build user trust and address security concerns. Recall, one of the flagship features of 24H2, creates a searchable 30-day timeline of a user's activities including files, webpages, and screenshots. However, since its announcement on May 20th, Recall has faced heavy criticism over potential privacy risks from storing user data in unencrypted plain text files. Security researcher Kevin Beaumont labeled Recall a "security nightmare" after finding it logged activities to a SQLite database accessible by non-admin accounts. This raised alarms about the depths of user behavior tracked and stored locally on PCs.
Initially, Microsoft had planned for Recall to be enabled by default in 24H2. However, following the backlash, the company backtracked on June 7th, making it an opt-in feature requiring Windows Hello authentication and adding encryption. Those adjustments were still not enough to satisfy Microsoft. In a new blog post, the firm stated Recall did not yet meet its "own standards of quality and security" and that it "must be trustworthy, secure and robust" before a wider rollout. By moving Recall to the Insider Program for further testing and refinement, Microsoft is giving itself more time to get the technology right and rebuild user confidence. A future blog will provide instructions for Insiders to preview Recall on compatible Copilot+ PCs with added security protections.
Source:
Microsoft
Initially, Microsoft had planned for Recall to be enabled by default in 24H2. However, following the backlash, the company backtracked on June 7th, making it an opt-in feature requiring Windows Hello authentication and adding encryption. Those adjustments were still not enough to satisfy Microsoft. In a new blog post, the firm stated Recall did not yet meet its "own standards of quality and security" and that it "must be trustworthy, secure and robust" before a wider rollout. By moving Recall to the Insider Program for further testing and refinement, Microsoft is giving itself more time to get the technology right and rebuild user confidence. A future blog will provide instructions for Insiders to preview Recall on compatible Copilot+ PCs with added security protections.
81 Comments on Microsoft Delays Controversial "Recall" Feature for Windows 11 24H2
Ain't gonna happen. They will backtrack on this one too.
Once I finish Dawntrail and a couple more PC game pass games though I am yeeting full time to manjaro, its easier to use than I was expecting, but I am very simply user, i just web browser and play games so meh.
On every Windows machine I manage, windows search service is disabled, and I untick the box on each drive that allows contents to be indexed for good measure.
With SSDs the original argument is now obsolete, originally Microsoft justified it by that searching natively on a spindle was too slow so indexing was added for performance. I never matched on to that either, as even when I was running Windows on a spindle if I searched for a program on the start menu it was almost instant. I still search for file names in a dos prompt, which is fast enough.
Now, if only the M series could support Vulkan (or proton could be ported to Metal) and we could use Proton on M series Macs.
But on the consumer side -- i agree -- it's really bad. I feel like the windows OS had great stability during 7 and 10 - I really don't like 11 - it feels sloppy, and disjointed, and their AI integration into it is a mess. Their approach to the user experience is why windows phone never took off. Everything microsoft does is needlessly complicated, and to do anything even remotely complex takes way longer to figure out than it should.
GFWL. That is all. :) We've been here a few dozen times now. MS should really. Really, just stick to making Windows and Office the best OS and office packages they can be. Heck, do some added services through Azure for all I care. Teams, some analytics, DevOps, etc. Fine apps. They can exist and make money alongside Windows and Office. But all these steps around it? Forcing cloud on us, forcing mobiles on us, forcing ARM tablets on us... or a Store and UWP-nonsense apps... just GTFO. We don't need it, we don't want it, its not better, and its never sexy enough to make a dent so why do they even bother.
Continued development has become a goal upon itself, it seems, but some things are just done, maybe they need a few touch ups over time, but really, Windows is done. Its not only done but its still got a great presence in the market, the feared 'everyone's going mobile and ARM' is not happening, especially not where the earning model has always been (enterprise). If you want to be productive, you're not doing it on a mobile or derivative. Simple.
MS should stop fucking whining for more services and money. They're readily shooting themselves in the foot now with it, as they have been doing ever since the godawful idea of Metro UI. I think that's when the madness set in, for reasons unknown, because them missing all those markets they had to get onboard with hasn't really damaged them at all.
If it's not possible to uninstall Recall (i can't take the risk of it being activated by any malware or updated) i will really have to say bye to PC gaming.
We need the consumer protection act put back in LAW. Companies today are seriusly getting away with murder with people information. Adobe now you have to use their own cloud just to activate adobe. You cannot just buy adobe and own it anymore and they cloud read all your PDF's. All these companies talk security then have no security at all in the end. Apple could control the entire market. They could if they wanted to be the top provider of all computers period. Apples could if they really wanted too sell their OS for all computers x86 and x64. If they did that windows would be done period over MS would have to really compete in the OS market. Apple OS is unix based if they would just update their kernal which is based on Free BSD to 4.0 or higher and runing newer Free BSD code 11 or something it would run on any PC. Then people could upgrade there MAC's with gaming computers and business class computers. But Apple does not do this they make money on Hardware sales that's it. I built many Apple Hackentoshs back in the day that worked flawlessly with everything working even apple thought I owned 14 Mac servers and 14 macbook pros. I never bought one I installed there OS on a PC and it worked. Had to really do some tweaking to make it all work but it ran amazing faster than a real bought mac in some cases as it took advantage of all the CPU resources and did not down clock everything. Apple are ID10T's they could win the OS market with a snap of a finger.
It was as clear as day that this will not be released in the announced form. Never ever ever ever, yet most people got so paranoid it was hillarios.
Anyway, it doesn't matter because only 0,1% tops of people using Windows have heard about this, since the vast majority of Windows users don't read tech news and don't actually care about things like this until they have it in front of their eyes.
Life moves on.
But as far as I go, can't wait for this feature to drop in. I spend way too much time searching for stuff I've seen or done in the past, so this will be a godsent to focus more on the present and future.
That's the whole point of these advance notices: to gather early feedback. Sure, most of the time the feedback is "omg, I can't wait to try this!". But sometimes it isn't.