Showing posts with label Windows 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows 11. Show all posts

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Microsoft Recall controversy

If being desperate enough to force users to build trust between them and the company is what Microsoft and various game and tech companies do recently, it's about injecting whatever irrelevant stuff users don't give a damn about with the earlier example being the pre-bundling of Candy Crush Saga which is the kind of the game with no end to it with endless level progression path and further levels being extremely tedious for non-paying players and that ruins the purpose of fun and challenge to begin with. The biggest matter of the recent time has to be Microsoft Recall for Copilot+ PCs. It is notorious for being a big security and privacy issue but remember, it applies to Copilot+ PCs that there's no need to panic.

There are open-source alternatives to Recall but I don't know if even they can be trusted or not despite the fact that they would address some of the issues the actual Recall had initially. Even if Microsoft backtracked and addressed some issues from the severe backlash, the damage to the trust was already done with users already threatening to switch to Linux which is fear-mongering in my opinion. In fact, you're already better off without open-source Recall clones if that's the case when switching to Mac or Linux.

The real concern about Microsoft Recall was that it could be a perfect gift for cyber criminals, control freaks and domestic abusers. In the case of the latter, there could be concerns of victims being forced to re-enable Recall feature. Another problem is that the feature takes screenshots every time, wasting tons of disk space like it's a home surveillance camera.

If parental controls and home surveillance cameras are not enough, what else do you want? Also, if only there's a child account for the children linked to their parents' for the game consoles, PCs and mobile devices in which certain features like credit card/debit card and digital wallet features are not available. Lastly, if the child uses their personal account on their device, not their parent's, for gaming, that's fine.

Recently, Microsoft had delayed the Recall feature and the Copilot+ PCs will come out without it. Another piece of good news is that the said feature will be disabled by default but you have the option to enable it or keep it disabled in the OOBE. But still, a new feature that decreases the security level is already unacceptable. I wonder what kind of weird idiot would be excited for and protective of something like that.

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Monday, August 23, 2021

Windows 11 reveal event from June

About two months ago, the new successor to Windows 10 was revealed by Microsoft with new features although it has the UI taken from the cancelled Windows 10X. There were ups and downs for that event when I tuned in to it online on Twitter and I made a couple of tweets about it.

  • Amazon App Store: Currently, there's the Your Phone app on Windows 10 which supports Samsung-branded Android devices for various features. The downside to this introduction is the usage of Amazon App Store as opposed to Google Play. Indeed, certain Amazon smart devices cannot be trusted over privacy issues and there's no knowing if even Amazon App Store can be trusted or not. Using Amazon App Store, you'll be able to install Android and use apps on Windows 11. The good news is that Android apps can be sideloaded.
  • Xbox gaming integration: As part of the new Microsoft Store, the Xbox-related games will be in the list that you can play on Windows 11. The inconvenient thing from the event was the audacity to mention, "It just works". Sure, Fallout 76 was a disaster but recently, there happens to be new games coming in from ID Software.
  • New Microsoft Teams experience
  • Steam and Epic Games Store games on Microsoft Store: For now, the article from Softpedia may remain like an announcement-level as I don't know if Steam and EGS games will be part of the Microsoft Store or not.
  • UI Changes: The entirely of the UI is based on Windows 10X's but with many changes. The taskbar buttons are moved to the center by default but you can configure position for them to retain the traditional positioning.
  • System Requirements: Ever since the Windows Vista days, the system requirements looked harsh with 1GB of RAM and above for the sake of some of the cool looking features such as the Aero transparency for the UI and the new UI animations that are still here today. There's also the 3D window switching feature with Windows+Tab key but that was changed in Windows 8 onwards. Speaking of Windows 8, some CPU features are needed if you want to use it so CPUs without them are out of luck for that. In case of the upcoming Windows 11, its system requirements are a little bit harsher than before with the requirement of 4GB RAM, TPM 2.0 chip, a 64-Bit CPU, HD display, DirectX 12 support for video cards and 64GB of storage.
  • OS Post-Install: The annoying thing for Home Edition users is that the internet connection is needed to complete the setup. I'm not sure if the workaround is there or not in case you want to use the local account.

Windows 11 will be coming out sometime in October.