Microsoft's Recall preview doesn't need a Copilot+ PC to run Windows Recall has been coaxed into life on a computer lacking the AI hardware shown off by Microsoft at its recent unveiling event. Windows Recall is Microsoft's latest attempt to persuade users that they really need to upgrade their hardware to take advantage of local AI magic. It stores a snapshot of the user's screen every …
> Microsoft's Recall preview doesn't need a Copilot+ PC to run
That’s to be expected, only need to look at W11…
Ms need it to run on non Copilot+ PCs, firstly to develop it and secondly to build initial user base.
Once there is sufficient standardisation of coprocessor technology and user lock-in, expect MS to announce a version of Windows that requires the new specification hardware.
"Will that be one or will they manage two gullible lusers?"
Doesn't require gullibility. Any and every punter who buys a non-Mac desktop/laptop will by default get Windows, most probably without even knowing about this abomination. Those of them who work out how to use the feature will no doubt be excited by the magic rather than bothered by the privacy implications of 'how does it actually work'?
And anyone who gets a PC at work will also get it by default if MS manage to sell corporate IT on the benefits (to the corporation, of course) of having that data available
Anybody who ever used Microsoft Outlook Journal will find this feature somewhat familiar if a little sad in its sheer stupidity of the technology.
Journal used to look at applications you were using and what files were open and record basic information - it wasn't very useful, but didn't use much power to process. Recall could reinvigorate Journal applying AI to what you're working on, but instead uses daft technology. The idea of taking a screen print of a document, and using AI to convert back to text is so stupid, you'd only do it for a demo.
No, no and a million times no. My PC is organised, if I know what I'm looking for I know where to look. If I don't know what I'm looking for no amount of AI indexing is going to help me.
If some people find it useful then fine but it shouldn't be enabled by default and ideally it should be in a module you can choose to install or not and can be cleanly uninstalled if it turns out to be not wanted.
Agreed.
And, for the times I really can't remember where I stored a file, Everything(*) has me covered.
Don't need no pseudo-AI bullshit.
* : no, I don't have any shares - I just like how it works instantly the way Windows Search never has and still doesn't
And where was this 2TB of photos and docs stored?
On a local drive or NAS box? Or "in the cloud"?
And did you lose them because you couldn't find them in your "online" storage (local or cloud) or because you couldn't find the physical device? Like that guy who claims to have lost millions in bitcoin because he throw the HD with his digital wallet on containing the bitcoin out - literally.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55658942
I think they really have lost the plot with this stuff. They've convinced themselves that people will buy completely new hardware for this, but why? An average user or procurement manager is going to say to themselves "I can use this to search things I've done before? What, like a website I've been to? That's what browser history is for." Who is spending hundreds of monies on new hardware for the possibility of saving a few seconds, if the thing works like it's supposed to?
> My PC is organised, if I know what I'm looking for I know where to look.
It's not all about you... They, the ones who matter, don't necessarily know what to look for, so they need indexing and keyword extraction and easily searchable metadata databases, so they can format and sell that information.
They ask to reserve 256Gb IIRC. Certainly enough that you could do a vast amount of useful stuff with it if Microsoft hadn't decided it should be jammed full of useless bullshit nobody on the planet wants.
Also it's apparently storing it locally using SQLite so... not ideal for people who like security: https://cyberplace.social/@GossiTheDog/112492445214914228
> What happens if you offer it 0GB instead
I don't think anybody will ask you. Don't forget that Microsoft's modus operandi is "Don't you worry your pretty little head about this, we know what's best for you, so bend over and shut up."
> using SQLite so... not ideal for people who like security
Just to point out, using SQLite does not necessarily mean it isn't secure; you can add security and encryption into SQLite, if that is appropriate to your use-case - and you can be bothered to do so[1]. Otherwise, using SQLite is precisely as secure as using Excel, Word, Libre Office or any of the other programs that Recall is effectively spying on.
I note that blog does not say which users can access the database: there is obviously nothing wrong with being able to access the log of your own interactions, it is only an issue if other users can. If it is capturing passwords (and demonstrably so, other than as a row of asterisks in all the screenshots it is taking), that makes it more desirable to keep others out, so access control is a Good Thing.
[1] clearly MS isn't bovvered
Maybe not very much. For comparison:
At its core, Rewind builds upon Scribe, a meeting-recording bot with a user base of 30,000. It's not just a handy app; it’s a surveillance system for your memories, cataloguing every word and visual you encounter. Thanks to Apple’s hardware magic, Rewind can shrink 10.5GB of raw data to a svelte 2.8MB, meaning even the tiniest MacBook hard drive can hoard years of your digital life.
"Microsoft has in the past been criticized for releasing software with artificially inflated requirements "
That may be true of its applications, but as far as Windows is concerned, Redmond has systematically deflated the requirements.
Windows 7 on 8 GB of RAM ? No. You need 16GB to function, 32GB to be comfortable.
Unless, of course, you haven't got the faintest idea of how a computer works and are content with a snail's pace and massive disk swapping.
This is nothing more than a Beta-test program for yet more 'CoPilot' cruft !!!
Get 100,000s of people to test the CoPilot crud and send the metrics etc back to the MS Mothership.
I do not need an AI front-end .... I need an OS that works properly, is usable and has a UI that is consistent in design and functionality.
CoPilot is an attempt to work around the 'Horror' that is Windows 11 without actually fixing anything !!!
Once again I will repeat .... IT IS NOT AI (BY ANY MEASURE) .... IT IS CLEVER PATTERN MATCHING WITH A LESSER VERSION OF 'CLEVER' !!!
FFS, please kill this off before it is too late !!!
:)
"FFS, please kill this off before it is too late !!!"
Presumably MS have reasoned that since the information is stored on your computer, it isn't a privacy breach. Well, perhaps it isn't one that will land MS in court.
However, for anyone who deals with legally privileged info, or medical records, or market-sensitive information, it turns the end-user into such a big target that it becomes criminally negligent to use a Windows PC in such an environment.
I'll let the corporate risk management folks take it from here.
Kill it, you're joking right? I have visions of the PR market-O-droids at MS literally sitting at their desks having orgasm after orgasm about the petabytes of anonymised data they're about to get for free of the suckers too stupid to switch this shit off from day one.
"Year of the linux desktop?”
Again?
But it does strike me that ‘Recall’ officially requires a certain level of hardware to run, unless you fancy hacking it, which only a tiny proportion of people will do, yes?
Corporate enterprise customers are quite sensitive about their ‘stuff’ leaking out - yes?
Conclusion - absolutely DO NOT purchase new ‘Copilot capable’ hardware and keep what you already have running for as long as you can. Seriously consider Macs if you can. Bad news for Dell and HP. Sucks to be them!
Hackers won't even have to persude you to give them your banking details any more. Just ring you up claiming to be Microsoft, install something on your PC then browse back through all your banking screens, private emails etc. at their leisure.
There is no way in hell I'm going to leave this activated on my PC. One more nail in the coffin for Windows, definitely time to look into Linux instead.
This is thing that only techies realise, not eveything works by simply moving secrets around in the backgrouns, sometimes you have to literally show the password on screen, copy it and paste it into the app. This Recall shite will getting lots and lots passwords captured in people's stores.
Pound-to-a-penny the malware writers are already working on ways to crack this wide open and start blackmailing people over their love of Japanese less able-bodied pr0n, loads of passwords or those secret chats people are having with their bit on the side.
I don't give a flying monkey's wotnot how low spec you can run MS Recall, if that piece of shit comes near my machines I'm unlocking the gun cabinet!
This incessant need to keep every tiny byte of data, it's the equivalent of sticking stuff in the spare and promising that you'll go in one day and sort it out. 15 years later you're moving house and have to hire a skip to get rid of all the crap you hoarded. You keep 15 revisions of an Excel sheet, it's like those sad loonies who die after the 30 years of newspapers they hoarded, suddenly fall on them and they lie there for 2 days until the poor sods die. Don't hoard.
If it's important keep it, if in doubt then bin it! Well that's usually how arguments start with my missus when I go to do the yearly spare room cleanup!
Please provide with a list of hardware capable of running Recall.
Using that, I will
(1) identify hardware that is capable of running Recall
(2) get rid of all hardware satisfying step (1).
Working with confidential "for my eyes only" information requires NO Recall present anywhere near me.
Not on my PC. Not on my Phone. Not in my IoT smart home (if I would have that).
Please Microsoft, how hard is it to understand that ??
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