[plopilop]

How is this objectively a great feature? This is a spyware that stores screenshots unencrypted (and thus accessible to any other spyware). I am also not convinced that the AI tools would have been offline, thus effectively sharing your whole data with Microsoft (even more than before).

From a privacy perspective, this feature is an abomination

[jjcm]

I'd caution us to separate out the feature from the implementation.

The feature provides the ability to search through all of the previous things you've done and gain context in an instant, in a way that can be queried with natural language. I think we can agree what it aims to achieve is beneficial.

The implementation is what you're debating. I see these are two separate things, but they play hand in hand. If you get the implementation wrong, it can easily tank the feature.

Still, the documentation for this seems to disagree with what you're saying.

> This is a spyware that stores screenshots unencrypted

This page[1] states "Snapshots are encrypted by Device Encryption or BitLocker". They suggest that things aren't shared with Microsoft, though I totally understand the skepticism there.

[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy-and-cont...

[Sophira]

> This page[1] states "Snapshots are encrypted by Device Encryption or BitLocker".

That sounds like it just means it's encrypted at rest - ie. while you're logged out - but transparently decrypted in much the same way as everything else on the system while you're logged in. That is to say, any running malware would have just as much access as it would do on a system that doesn't use encryption.

From a functional point of view, it can be treated as being equivalent to being unencrypted, with the exception being when you aren't logged in - at which point you're not running any programs anyway.

[Everdred2dx]

While the claim that Bitlocker is used to encrypt them is true, it’s really not good enough here. The files are unencrypted during a live session, which makes them an easy target for malware.

[tremon]

Not just during a live session -- whenever Windows is running. Nobody needs to be logged in or actively using the machine for the files to be readable in unencrypted form.

[NegativeK]

"Objectively" is very strong, but I'd love a tool like this.

Except it's so thoroughly invasive and ripe for abuse that I can't imagine ever using something like this that isn't open source and thoroughly vetted. And I think your very valid points are stemming from that -- MS's implementation was hamfisted and halfassed, and people don't trust them even if they do it correctly. But those are issues with the implementation and the implementer, in my mind. Not the conceptual feature.

[jbotdev]

I’m not sure an “objectively great” feature exists, because “great” is such a vague and subjective term.

I think it’s more productive to discuss it in terms of the use cases and who they benefit.

[dbish]

Many users were paying for this from a 3rd party already (rewindAI)