I Can’t Recall a Win-Win Like This (Premium)

In June, Microsoft delayed the controversial Copilot+ PC feature Recall, appeasing critics by making some concessions to their concerns. A more nuanced view of those concessions revealed something interesting, however: The only meaningful change it made--aside from the delay--was to make Recall truly opt-in. Previously, it would have been enabled by default and users would need to opt-out after setting up their Copilot+ PC for the first time.

Microsoft is no stranger to enshittification. Indeed, it has taken this strategy to new heights by enabling OneDrive Folder Backup silently in the background after users explicitly decline multiple requests to turn on this feature, part of a broader effort undermining Windows 11. But even with this experience still heavy in my mind, I was taken aback by the reaction in the community to Recall, a feature that is so obviously useful and even necessary for so many users. This year, Recall became the poster child for a disturbing trend I've seen escalate in recent years in which the most technical people are paradoxically the most resistant to change. And even more resistant facts, logic, and common sense.

My stance on Recall is consistent with the way I approach everything in personal technology. Microsoft, like Apple, Google, and other Big Tech players, is a terrible company that will compromise its products and services to feed the Wall Street beast, the very definition of enshittification. But like all of you, I also deal with the reality of these companies and use their products and services every day.

Trust is a tough word to use when describing these companies. But I do--and you do--trust them to some degree. For example, I trust Microsoft to secure my PCs using various hardware and software solutions, and I trust them with my private data in the cloud, just as I trust both Apple and Google with it as well. I do what I can to secure access to this data, of course. But in the end, there is an element of trust there as well. Just as a I trust the flight crew of a plane or, more implicitly, the drivers around me on the road. What choice do we have?

But some clearly don't trust Microsoft and in profound ways. They commingle objectively terrible policies like enabling OneDrive Folder Backup behind our backs with fears about our inherent data sovereignty rights. But I see these as different things. I may not want to enable Folder Backup, may feel that doing so or not is my decision, not Microsoft's. But in the end, enabling Folder Backup is a net win for data protection, as it ensures that the contents of the affected folders isn't locked to that one device, it's also backed up--really, synced--to the cloud. The cloud that I trust Microsoft to protect from attackers. Put a different way, I can dislike this policy, and I do. But I can also trust Microsoft to protect my data, and I do. These things are not mutually exclusive.

In any event, critics of Microsoft who are stuck using Windows and...