Microsoft’s Total Recall
The new era of computing is here. Microsoft introduced Recall on its Copilot+ PCs this week.
The last sentence summarizes the innovation vacuum at Microsoft.
Let's start with Recall, the new AI feature (functionality) built into the latest version of Windows 11. What does it do? In the words of Microsoft, you 'search across time to find the content you need.'
How can Windows search through time and space? Easily. Every few moments, your Windows machine will take a screenshot of your entire desktop and store it on your local drive.
Why would you need something like this? To 'recall' something you saw or did in the past on your machine. Microsoft fortunately provides examples of these potential lapses in your memory — what was the name of the Korean restaurant Alice mentioned?
Or — what was the pizza recipe you saw earlier today?
Great and useful examples. But I can provide better ones:
What is my account number and balance in my investment portfolio?
What is the amount our company is willing to pay for this product?
What is my latest diagnosis from my doctor?
What was the exact wording I used when corresponding with my lawyer?
Where would your Windows machine come up with this information? Well, you were checking your account using a browser. You opened a password-protected document where the internal deliberation is taking place. Or viewed results in the ultra-secure medical app.
Just think about everything you've done on your machine today and that it will be saved — by default.
Can you disable it? Of course! Here is the detailed description on how to disable it, temporarily disable it, how to block certain websites, how to delete individual snapshots, and which browsers are supported for advanced browser filtering.
It’s all there. From this, you can see the brilliance of naming this Recall.
It has multiple meanings:
The Total Recall when your memory is almost wiped out and your machine will become the answer to everything from your past.
Or it predicts a future product recall, as in returning non-functioning goods back to the manufacturer.
The emotional reaction from users provides a glimpse into how they perceive this new amazing functionality. Let's just say they use lots of capital letters to get the point across to the support people.
But Recall won't be able to exist without Copilot+ PCs. To quote: 'Copilot+ PCs are the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built.' Do you remember the medieval times when we had 'smart' devices? That's no longer the standard. The new level is 'intelligent.’
And we are not only talking 'intelligent,' we are talking 'secure' — 'Every Copilot+ PC comes secured out of the box. The Microsoft Pluton Security processor will be enabled by default on all Copilot+ PCs, and we have introduced a number of new features, updates and defaults to Windows 11 that make it easy for users to stay secure.'
Yes, the famous 'S' word — security. The holy grail of the IT world. Something that is talked about a lot, something for which every vendor crosses its heart and hopes to die, and something we read everyday in the news that was not working. Here, Microsoft is releasing another Version 1.0 where everything is enabled by default and it is up to individual customers to lock it down.
Despite naming new processors for advanced-this-or-that, despite the assurances about trusted computing and transparent AI, Windows is getting successfully attacked every day, all the time.
Can you do something about it? Of course! You visit the Center for Internet Security website and download the 'CIS Microsoft Windows 11 Stand-alone Benchmark' document so you can properly secure your computer. To give you an idea of the scope of the work ahead of you — the table of contents is 22 pages long, while the document itself is 1,257 pages long …
Or put it another way. The initial release of the Windows operating system was in November 1985, and, almost 40 years later, you have to install add-on products like Antivirus software to make it secure!!
After all this, you might wonder why Microsoft is doing this. Surely, there must be a good reason to get all this amazing new intelligent functionality into the hands of its desperate customers.
Of course, there is a good reason. It is called the 'declining sales of PCs'. From its latest peak in 2021 (the COVID fun times) when 341 million PCs were sold, to 2023, when only 241 million were sold, PC and chips manufacturers are pushing Microsoft hard to do something. And while Microsoft is basking in the double digit growth of its cloud business, its PC business needs a jump start.
The recurrent pattern? Microsoft is riding the wave of hype. It is introducing barely functional products into the market just to sell more hardware and hoping that nobody will notice. Total Recall.