Microsoft "Recall" on New Copilot PCs Giving it a Photographic Memory

[engine]

Microsoft is adding a new "feature" it dubbed "Recall", which it says is a photographic memory taking snapshots of just about everything you do on its new Copilot PCs.
It says it'll stay local, and not uploaded. However, I'm not so sure about that. In addition, there's going to be quite a data bloat.

Now with Recall, you can access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory. Copilot+ PCs organize information like we do – based on relationships and associations unique to each of our individual experiences. This helps you remember things you may have forgotten so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and intuitively by simply using the cues you remember.

[blogs.microsoft.com...]

[youtube.com...]

[not2easy]

Much more efficient than elves on shelves. ;)

[engine]

It's a privacy issue, and I hope there's a way to turn it off.

[ronin]

From 2011-22, I used Windows 7, which probably ranks as my favourite ever OS.

In late 2022, after many years of contemplating the switch, I replaced my aging laptop with my current laptop - which has Linux Ubuntu installed.

Several factors led me to finally bite the bullet - one of the most prominent was the massive amount of time and resource Microsoft spent pushing "a free upgrade to Windows 10" back in 2016.

It all seemed like a bit of a red flag.

Having an Ubuntu-powered laptop definitely feels like a huge weight has lifted off my shoulders.

I'd expected that it would take me a couple of months to get used to it. I doubt it even took me a couple of days.

Remarkably, I discovered that much of the default software that Ubuntu either included or recommended was either (occasionally) software I had familiarity with via Windows 7 (e.g. FileZilla, GIMP), or else (much more often) was the exact same software that I used all the time on Windows 7 (Firefox browser, LibreOffice).

So, in summary, switching from Windows to Linux required barely any effort at all.

Now that I use an open source Operating System, the configuration of which is entirely under my control, I can't see that I will ever switch back.

On the contrary, it's now clearer to me than ever that mobile devices very much need an equivalent to desktop Linux distros.