Microsoft once again delays launching Recall

[thewayne]

Recall, if you recall, is their replay "assistant" that no one seems to particularly be asking for. It takes screen shots of your computer and stores them so that you can look back if you lose information. During the first tests of it we learned that the storage of said snapshots were not secure, so someone who'd infiltrated your computer could conceivably see banking credentials, medical records, etc.

From the article: "Originally planned for October, Recall will now be available for preview with Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs by December."

and

"Earlier this week, Microsoft again clarified that Recall will not be mandatory on Copilot Plus PCs, and will be an opt-in experience that can be fully removed."

It'll be interesting to see the blowback when this thing finally deploys, especially if it isn't fully opt-in.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/31/24284572/microsoft-recall-delay-december-windows-insider-testing

Comments

[thewayne]

Space is definitely an issue.  I don't know the timeframe of how long Recall intends to keep screen shots, they may plan on syncing it into your cloud account, which could suck, especially if you don't want to use one.  High-compression jpeg could reduce a lot of this load.

[arlie]

I presume they'll also charge for the storage used on your cloud account. That's a popular scam - save things by default that the user doesn't want saved, and ideally doesn't know how to get rid of, such that storage quotas are exceeded, and things the user does want are at risk. Then offer an increase in storage for a small monthly fee. Lather rinse and repeat, as the junk accumulates.

[thewayne]

Yep!  I paid to upgrade my iCloud one level, and I'm okay with that.  I dropped my Dropbox when they banned more than 3 devices accessing a paid account.  Microsoft's One Drive doesn't care how many devices access it, and so far seem quite liberal on their space policy for free accounts.  I've never had a credit card associated with them, and plan on blocking Recall, so hopefully this will never be an issue.