Microsoft Office Tools Reportedly Collect Data for AI Training, Requiring Manual Opt-Out

[mechtech]

Office 2007 ftw

I was going to say 2003 pro

The best thing about this

File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences, and unchecking the box.

Is "trust center and trust center settings"

lol

 

[lexluthermiester]

View attachment 373240

Can't wait for Microsoft to start training their AI on confidential documents and have their LLMs drop a few government secrets or two. Then Microsoft and their lawyers will learn the true weight of an EULA.

I won't be renewing my Microsoft 365 subscription once it elapses in January. Might just pay for Apple One instead. Or better yet - a year of Proton Unlimited, way things are going, looks like a solid VPN will be a must for the distinguished netizen in 2025.

This! All. Day. Long. Been using it since it launched and have NEVER looked back to msoffice. Oh yeah!

 

[Dr. Dro]

Looks like I've found just the right retro thread to ask, and maybe not be ridiculed...

How the hell do I transplant Outlook Express from Windows XP to Windows 7, 10 and 11?

You don't, if I remember correctly, Outlook Express relies on Internet Explorer 6 and a lot of the old OLE/ActiveX lot being present. You're not running it on anything later than XP/2003 R2. Last I remember there was a modern reboot project of this called OE Classic, but it doesn't seem to be open source and the free version comes with certain limitations. Not sure if it's even still around, it's been a very long time since I heard about it.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Its a strange world we've landed in when Word doesn't work anymore because no internet.

Wtf

Why not? New Outlook does just that. Just today, I had an email that I was trying to view, but it refused to load, despite being in my inbox. After all, MS doesn’t want you to store local-only files. The cloud is the “safe place” for all your work, and you know, if they happen to use your content to train AI models, it’s all for the best, right? Right?

 

[windwhirl]

Looks like I've found just the right retro thread to ask, and maybe not be ridiculed...

How the hell do I transplant Outlook Express from Windows XP to Windows 7, 10 and 11?

Don't even bother. If you still have a machine with Outlook Express that somehow can still connect to a mail server, probably best to migrate it to current era Outlook or Thunderbird.

If you can get a hold of an old version of Outlook (up to Office 2010) or Thunderbird (up to version 52) that has an importer for Outlook Express

Or... run a virtual machine just for Outlook Express, if you really can't stand the crappy webmail UXs or any current local email program.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Why not? New Outlook does just that. Just today, I had an email that I was trying to view, but it refused to load, despite being in my inbox. After all, MS doesn’t want you to store local-only files. The cloud is the “safe place” for all your work, and you know, if they happen to use your content to train AI models, it’s all for the best, right? Right?

Thunderbird. Give it a try. I converted over, never looked back.

Thunderbird — Free Your Inbox.

Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize - and it’s loaded with great features!

www.thunderbird.net

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Thunderbird. Give it a try. I converted over, never looked back.

Thunderbird — Free Your Inbox.

Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize - and it’s loaded with great features!

www.thunderbird.net

My IT department would probably say no.

I wouldn’t touch new outlook at home with a 20 meter science pole.

 

[lexluthermiester]

My IT department would probably say no.

Ah, fair enough.

I wouldn’t touch new outlook at home with a 20 meter science pole.

Pig pole perhaps? LOL!

 

[umeng2002]

lol

I've been using LibreOffice for years now.

 

[Easy Rhino]

How did people think M$ was training their AI?

 

[AsRock]

For now, users who wish to protect their intellectual property are advised to review their settings carefully.

Better just not use it if you have the option, don't trust these so called off buttons.

 

[solarmystic]

Office 2007 ftw

Y2k happened with cloudstrike.


I loved 97, 2000 was good as well. 2007 is the beginning of the doc(x) format compatibility, that is why i use it, nothing newer

17 years later and Office 2007 continues to be my jam due to the reasons stated by these fine posters above me. Heck if it weren't for the need for .docx and .xlsx support i'd have remained on 2003 to this day.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I still have copies of Office 2000 and Office XP. I bought the former at college for something like $20 with the student discount. I barely needed Office for my degree back then, but how could I pass that kind of deal up?

 

[Chaitanya]

I still have copies of Office 2000 and Office XP. I bought the former at college for something like $20 with the student discount. I barely needed Office for my degree back then, but how could I pass that kind of deal up?

Had purchased Win 7, Office and Lightroom 6 on my friends student ID for those prices. Definitely worth the asking price. Just waiting for the straw that breaks the camels back with this subscription, and ai BS on both consumers and government end. Its going to end badly for these companies.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Unfortunately my Company has fully subscribed to 365. Of course so they can spy on Individual work PCs but the trade off is lock outs,system outages and the best we have SAP cloud for SAP and you know how those 2 play with each other,....not.

I feel for ya. My workplace trialed it, and it went down for ten minutes in the middle of big upper level meetings. People couldnt get to anything and the look on their faces when told "well the new product is int he cloud, nothing we can do" was hilarious.

They went back to google docs, but they're still pushing for full cloud intune enrollment and AD, having not learned their lesson.

That's normal operation for Onedrive.

In my experience normal operation for onedrive is total disobedience and de synced folders.

Sounds like a good time to jump ship to other alternatives. Incidentally, the key from my Office 2021 was revoked for some reason, and instead of looking for it in my docs, I just went to Libre Office. It has improved a lot since the last time I used it about 10 years ago. The same with the new Outlook, I don't like it's new layout and just went back to Thunderbird, which had to do an overhaul at some point but it's pretty nice.

I can't believe Microsoft is making the same kind of slimy mistakes that made them such a hated company 20 years ago.

There's really 0 reason for 99% of people to be using office. Google docs is free, with cloud backups and network administration. Libreoffice is free, standalone, with no spying or other nonsense. There are other options too. Paying hundreds of dollar s"because office" is one of the most boomer things I have to put up with.

 

[eidairaman1]

17 years later and Office 2007 continues to be my jam due to the reasons stated by these fine posters above me. Heck if it weren't for the need for .docx and .xlsx support i'd have remained on 2003 to this day.

I put it on w11 in 2021 due to 2003 lacking needed functions

 

[Vayra86]

Why not? New Outlook does just that. Just today, I had an email that I was trying to view, but it refused to load, despite being in my inbox. After all, MS doesn’t want you to store local-only files. The cloud is the “safe place” for all your work, and you know, if they happen to use your content to train AI models, it’s all for the best, right? Right?

Yeah. I draw the line before reaching this shitty point lol. Its just...

 

[Wirko]

How did people think M$ was training their AI?

“On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.”

M$ has yet to take this lesson.

 

[Draconis]

Google docs is free, with cloud backups and network administration

For a corporate how are they on the privacy angle? Some of the USAID Country Missions we deal with use it so I'm curious about any assurances Google provides.

 

[TSiAhmat]

View attachment 373240

Can't wait for Microsoft to start training their AI on confidential documents and have their LLMs drop a few government secrets or two. Then Microsoft and their lawyers will learn the true weight of an EULA.

I won't be renewing my Microsoft 365 subscription once it elapses in January. Might just pay for Apple One instead. Or better yet - a year of Proton Unlimited, way things are going, looks like a solid VPN will be a must for the distinguished netizen in 2025.

Tbh i forgor Libre office (and i was in the market for such a software because of my personal laptop)

Thanks Dr. Dro & Microsoft for the advertisement of Libre Office!

 

[Wirko]

The best thing about this

File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences, and unchecking the box.

Is "trust center and trust center settings"

lol

When you see a mention of computer security and trusted computing, you first need to ask, whose security and who is supposed to trust whom?

Microsoft trusts the ecosystem they helped create. They trust that the end user (who pays for the computer, licenses and electricity and incidentally keeps that computer at their home/office) wont mess with it much. That's what it is.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Had purchased Win 7, Office and Lightroom 6 on my friends student ID for those prices. Definitely worth the asking price. Just waiting for the straw that breaks the camels back with this subscription, and ai BS on both consumers and government end. Its going to end badly for these companies.

I also have LR6, but haven't used it in years. Never have adopted the subscribe model from Adobe or other software makers. I mean, Adobe really slapped its users in the face, especially since the free trial was all of 7 days and required payment information. Then later we hear news about how hard they made it to cancel that free trial. They have a long way to go before they get my money again.

I've never been on board with this "pay us indefinitely to get all the enhancements and improvements" concept. My experience with that is Office365 at work, where it often feels like MS rearranging the deck chairs. Maybe I didn't want the latest feature you put out, especially in its half-baked condition. SaaS takes away the ability to vote with your wallet without making a big sacrifice. Instead of just sticking to an older, proven version while waiting for the software vendor to prove their worth, you have to find a new alternative altogether. They include some cloud storage in their bundles for a few reasons. One, it's to get your data and get you hooked, but two, it's to make you think you're getting something of lasting value in your subscription.

 

[WatchThe80s]

Office 2019 this checkbox is not selected after install but it's there (i don't remember if i went into the settings to kill it when i installed it years ago).

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

For a corporate how are they on the privacy angle? Some of the USAID Country Missions we deal with use it so I'm curious about any assurances Google provides.

This is their list of FAQs

How Google protects your organization's security and privacy - Google Workspace Admin Help

Two of the most common topics of questions regarding Google in general, and Google Cloud specifically, are security and privacy. We take both topics very seriously and offer tools that let you co

support.google.com

Claims they are compliant with ISO/IEC 27018:2014. For our org that's good enough for compliance.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Sometimes you just can’t beat the timing. Here were are taking about cloud woes, and just got an email from our IT group saying outages to Teams, Outlook and Sharepoint have been resolved. Sounds like MS deployed a bad update to their servers and it has been a slow revert. I really feel for any European business using MS services. Any rollout issues will hit them first due to the time differences. While they experience IT hell, MS is working on the issue before I'm out of bed. Sounds like some companies lost a full day of productive work.