I thought this was a serious take for a second (until I looked at microsoft_recall_linux.exe - lol).
Having said that, I would actually be keen for something similar that is both open-source and totally local so that I could use the output as AI fodder (for a local inference model of course).
I know this is satire, but there is actually one and one you actually control. May be useful to remember who said what and where. It can be useful. Just not the way a megacorp implements it.
Mac only but if you want a local only version of this (which has been mentioned in other comments), Dayflow[1] looks decent. I think I'd actually love something like this but can't quite bring myself to run it.. even with local models
For the first time since the 1980's I'm not going to be running a PC with a Microsoft OS on anywhere (I dual boot my main desktop since I use it for work and gaming) but the Windows 11 install is getting binned.
Tired of having to read release notes carefully and make sure I've done just the right things to stop it doing things I never asked it to do.
Good job MS, you lost a customer who's never likely to come back.
Been running windows/linux alongside each other since the late 90's and outside of gaming my computing life is linux (even my TV is connected to a fedora box) so not a hard switch.
Wonderfull satire.
Forgetting is a blessing for me, and while I dont have complete clinical recall, I do retain a very great deal, add in a chaotic curiosity, and there are many many short paths, I dont need reminding/renforcement of.
Which makes useing the internet hellish, without turning all the history and pre fetch, adverts, etc off.
Having my local machine co opted for survailence has me wondering about building a clasic office, with a fax machine, and paper mail.
Paper mails last significant update was 100 years ago with airplanes, and fax has been stable for ?50 years?
And the cheap ass win11 laptop that would not power down is outside in the rain, and the much cheaper linux box with dual monitors is styling in the house, graphted into an old 60's formica kitchen table, was booted from a usb drive,created with a phone, works awsome.
Love that side of the tech, loath
the ,the, whatever it is, thats trying to suck up the world and spew it back covered in cold grue.
This satire is amusing. Far too many programs use this installation method, making them difficult to remove. Seeing this is an immediate deterrent to installation.
I never understood the hate for Recall. The idea is definitely good. In fact I want this sort of feature to work across my devices. I guess people don't trust Microsoft to implement it in a secure way?
I would say do not run it (I only skimmed it), but if you 'wget' the script or grab it in your browser and just read it it's quite funny :) hats off to the developer.
I know this is satire, but a program that logs what you were doing and when is quite helpful. I have a script that fires every ten seconds and stores the current active window's metadata to a sqlite database. Other scripts log battery level, system load and free space. I use Zeitgeist to store my clipboard history and it's backed up regularly. Another script, run by Audacious (with the "song change" plugin), logs the music I'm playing.
Its kind of naive satire that looks silly on second thought. Recall was not bad because of the concept but implementation details, rollout communication and of course the microsoft part. Recall by an open entity with data ownership, security and transparency would have none of those issues and its just a new take on the universal desktop search that is enabled by ai being able to utilise pixels. I refuse to be shamed by e2e encryption freaks that i want to be able search anything I encountered and having universal data control and ownership vs locked in app silos.
All of that data sent to a third party server is going to be public on the Internet at some point. Security? Don't make me laugh. Countries that required government IDs to participate online have already made this mistake and those IDs have been leaked. Just because it's open source or run by $NOT_MICROSOFT won't make it any safer.
The problem with other people consenting to it is that it makes every one else less safe. People get compromised and scammers can use that compromised data to work against people who didn't share their data with the, "Benevolent Open Source Recall Service."
I cannot even tell Windows that I manage updates myself, how can Recall not be an insane paternalism fail?
In my opinion the product owners of Windows lack the maturity do implement anything like Recall responsibly. Perhaps there is pressure in the background, but as the consumer that isn't my problem.
I could see something like Recall be helpful for a lot of users, but the politics of Windows would need to be changed considerably.
e2e encryption freaks should know about the limits of encryption for that matter.
Also I still don't have a Microsoft account. A private one at least.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Recall was problematic because of the lack of information provided when they announced it. How would it handle sensitive details like banking account pages. Can developers opt out for best security practices? How is the managed in an enterprise environment?
Once they delayed and got all their ducks in a row it's a much more solid feature. Not for everyone, but a good way to leverage your PC as a source of information that you can search without having to save everything.
The post reads a little childish to me. Very "Micro$hit are greedy and want to steal your data" level of criticism.
You're criticizing a joke. Worse, you seem to be aware that you're criticizing a joke, and still went through with it.
I also disagree with your premise: Recall by an open-source entity would have many of the same problems. The threat model for most people isn't that Microsoft might tailor ads to their interests. The threat model is that you're giving that ransomware gang, or an abusive spouse, a new tool with devastating capabilities.
Even for people legitimately worried about law enforcement / the government, the same applies. You're gifting your adversary a database of everything you've ever done that understands context and can literally be queried for "just show me the bad things". It's slightly better if it lives locally rather than in the cloud, but it can be used to nab you just the same.
You say it as if criticizing a joke is obviously something not to do for some reason? It is not like the joke does not imply something the author tries to say, otherwise it would not be on the front page. That aside, you overstate the difference to what we have today dramatically. Your browser history is already that and look at what controls firefox built on top to let you manage it. You can pause it, limit it, exclude pages etc. An adversary can root your pc and enable key logger and screen recording if they can break into an encrypted database, the delta to what adversaries already have is not that big, but the unlock for users and agents is quite big.
I refuse to be shamed by AI and surveillance freaks who can't be bothered to take notes of important things and instead demand their and by extension "my" daily computing habits are recorded "just in case."
you can turn off the features, no one forces you. but locked data is not available to me so you influence my fundamental freedom and right of data ownership for my whole life when i only force you to once click “i don't want ai” in onboarding of an app. everything else is just implementation details. im not talking about specific implementations.
Recall is absolutely horrible in concept irregardless of implementation. Would you accept a big brother security camera over your shoulder recording every minute of your life? No? That’s the equivalent of what Recall is.
i have security cameras in all my rooms recording all the time, so yeah. you mix up the features with the saas and corporate hellscape that currently provides us these products. i want all of this but with secure and local software and hardware that i truly own and control.
Its a pure unhidden giveaway: ai is not about anything you want as a user, its about busting the last shreds of privacy and security for the vast majority of computer users
These recall apps disappoint me. They screenshot all the time.
It's not enough data. They should be adding event driven window history reporting, accessibility tree scraping, and filesystem deltas too. I want a better exocortex!
Look up eidetic os - it runs a micro kernel and captures all the inputs to it, to be able to perfectly deterministicly replay everything. Like running all your programs under a time travel debugger.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 96.4 ms ] threadHaving said that, I would actually be keen for something similar that is both open-source and totally local so that I could use the output as AI fodder (for a local inference model of course).
To be more "native" shall have the extension com or lnk.
Here it is [unaffiliated, untested by me, unvetted]: https://github.com/openrecall/openrecall
There's some docs on storing the data in an encrypted volume or external drive, but 99% of people ain't doing that.
The only real improvement over MS's version is keeping the data local, which ain't much, really.
[1] https://github.com/JerryZLiu/Dayflow
Tired of having to read release notes carefully and make sure I've done just the right things to stop it doing things I never asked it to do.
Good job MS, you lost a customer who's never likely to come back.
Been running windows/linux alongside each other since the late 90's and outside of gaming my computing life is linux (even my TV is connected to a fedora box) so not a hard switch.
This satire is amusing. Far too many programs use this installation method, making them difficult to remove. Seeing this is an immediate deterrent to installation.
It is like making sex with all your coleagues and your boss watching you and getting a performance review based on this.
Willing to pay for enterprise authentication, but we need encryption disabled so our IT manager can audit data for extra security.
All of that data sent to a third party server is going to be public on the Internet at some point. Security? Don't make me laugh. Countries that required government IDs to participate online have already made this mistake and those IDs have been leaked. Just because it's open source or run by $NOT_MICROSOFT won't make it any safer.
The problem with other people consenting to it is that it makes every one else less safe. People get compromised and scammers can use that compromised data to work against people who didn't share their data with the, "Benevolent Open Source Recall Service."
In my opinion the product owners of Windows lack the maturity do implement anything like Recall responsibly. Perhaps there is pressure in the background, but as the consumer that isn't my problem.
I could see something like Recall be helpful for a lot of users, but the politics of Windows would need to be changed considerably.
e2e encryption freaks should know about the limits of encryption for that matter.
Also I still don't have a Microsoft account. A private one at least.
Once they delayed and got all their ducks in a row it's a much more solid feature. Not for everyone, but a good way to leverage your PC as a source of information that you can search without having to save everything.
The post reads a little childish to me. Very "Micro$hit are greedy and want to steal your data" level of criticism.
I also disagree with your premise: Recall by an open-source entity would have many of the same problems. The threat model for most people isn't that Microsoft might tailor ads to their interests. The threat model is that you're giving that ransomware gang, or an abusive spouse, a new tool with devastating capabilities.
Even for people legitimately worried about law enforcement / the government, the same applies. You're gifting your adversary a database of everything you've ever done that understands context and can literally be queried for "just show me the bad things". It's slightly better if it lives locally rather than in the cloud, but it can be used to nab you just the same.
I refuse to be shamed by AI and surveillance freaks who can't be bothered to take notes of important things and instead demand their and by extension "my" daily computing habits are recorded "just in case."
It's not enough data. They should be adding event driven window history reporting, accessibility tree scraping, and filesystem deltas too. I want a better exocortex!
It’s a cool idea I think!