Recall is a bloated waste of time that completely misses the point. Why not instead let me snapshot a set of apps and docs/projects that are open, then snapshot a different set of apps and what’s open, and let me flip between the two (or three or four)? This way I could sort out my setup for home versus work, or between multiple clients/customers, and be able to quickly jump between common layouts/apps depending on context. But to be honest, this is probably beyond what Windows APIs are capable of, since Windows can’t even remember what directories I was working in across apps.
I’m not sure why I need to know the history of screenshots that is Recall. Maybe this was simply the best they could do?
That said, Windows 11 is such an AI-fueled privacy dumpster fire that it’s getting replaced by Linux on my gaming PC this month. Then I’m only stuck on Windows for work, and even then I can still write code on Mac or Linux.
I love how we want to trim macOS down. I totally get it. I open Activity Monitor and think, "WTF?" At the same time, my current job requires I use a Windows laptop, and I have to admit, "Wow, we have it pretty good over here..."
Not saying this isn't a valiant effort, but I kind of feel like Mac users are stretched out on a lounge chair at the beach complaining the Bloody Mary could be a touch more spicy.
Keynote is so much better for presentations that PowerPoint it's not even funny. But if you're not doing presentations, I can understand dumping it. I do like to have Pages because it means I don't have to bother with Word's annoying ribbon interface and Copilot AI when I'm writing...though sounds like that may be changing?
Keynote is completely underrated, likely because people assume it's just a Powerpoint clone, but it's more like a highly templated motion graphics app with a UI that steers people into using it as Powerpoint replacement.
So not only is it a far quicker way to make a PPT than using Powerpoint. I also see it used for making presentation videos, interactive PDFs and even animated GIFs/HTML5 animations.
The number of motion graphics marketing videos I see which are actually just Keynote files exported to video is impressive.
That’s kind of funny you mention “quicker way to make a PPT.” Everyone at my company had been asking me how I make my presentations look so good. I’m no designer; I’m a lowly engineer. But I do them in Keynote and export them to PowerPoint, which is half the battle!
(Sadly, my work laptop is Windows. So I create them on my personal laptop then migrate to PPT and do my best to fix up the fonts on Windows.)
I was thinking something similar, but not so much an ad as a citation. A good starting point might be a law stating that when an LLM produces an answer, it cite its sources, with a link back to the content. Ideally, though, the producer of that content should receive some amount of financial compensation as well, similar to how an author or an actor receives royalties. If the LLM is making money off of this, so should the person who provide the LLM the value.
The problem is there was a social contract. Someone spent their time and money to create a product that they shared for free, provided you visit their site and see their offerings. In this way they could afford to keep making this free product that everyone benefited from.
LLMs broke that social contract. Now that product will likely go away.
People can twist themselves into knots about how LLMs create “value” and that makes all of this ok, but the truth is they stole information to generate a new product that generates revenue for themselves at the cost of other people’s work. This is literally theft. This is what copyright law is meant to protect. If LLM manufacturers are making money off someone’s work, they need to compensate people for that work, same as any client or customer.
LLMs are not doing this for the good of society. They themselves are making money off this. And I’m sure if someone comes along with LLM 2.0 and rips them off, they’re going to be screaming to governments and attorneys for protection.
The ironic part of all of this is that LLMs are literally killing the businesses they need to survive. When people stop visiting (and paying) Tailwind, Wikipedia, news sites, weather, and so on, and only use LLMs, those sites and services will die. Heck, there’s even good reason to think LLMs will kill the Internet at large, at least as an information source. Why in the hell would I publish news or a book or events on the Internet if it’s just going to be stolen and illegally republished through an LLM without compensating me for my work? Once this information goes away or is locked behind nothing but paywalls, I hope everyone is ready for the end of the free ride.
As a software engineer who has developed on Macs (and Linux) for most of my career and has recently started a job that requires me to use Windows again, I can tell you from experience that Office on the Mac is far, far more stable, easy to use, and considerably faster than on Win11. Microsoft’s macOS team are really good at their jobs.
But then I don’t find macOS to be slow or a buggy mess, so mileage may vary.
> Office on the Mac is far, far more stable, easy to use, and considerably faster than on Win11
I haven't had stability issues with any Office program in years, but everything you mentioned is moot because there are Office features (especially Power___ features in Excel) that don't have parity on MacOS. If I get a workbook from a client, I need it to run exactly the same on my machine as it does on theirs.
I totally agree with you, just yesterday I edited a document in Microsoft word and opened the second document for comparison. Suddenly, the first document froze and when I closed the program, I did not see the changes that I had made before. After complaining about my life, I started anew, and only the next time I downloaded Word offered me a recovery option.
Regardless, at least a few of my colleagues using Windows have reported issues with the new start menu. It seems very slow, and sometimes you have to close & reopen it for content to appear.
Searching for things via the Start menu is also totally hit or miss, on 5 different PCs that I regularly use, especially trying to open "Add or Remove Programs" (as described in an earlier comment).
Oh completely agreed on the start menu being slower.
I don’t use it anymore. Fortunately since my windows usage is restricted only to work and I have an ultra wide monitor, I’m able to pin all the apps I need on the taskbar. With the Win + # shortcuts I can avoid the start menu completely.
In the past I didn’t use the taskbar at all and depended on Win + search entirely.
I absolutely hate this article. So you want me to learn, understand, and write code in a format an LLM can ingest so you can more easily copy and paste my knowledge? Seems like the worst of all possible worlds: I work for you for nothing, you and the LLM make money on my work, and you get to produce terrible software someone else has to maintain when you move on to the next "problem." How mercenary of you.
I’m not sure why I need to know the history of screenshots that is Recall. Maybe this was simply the best they could do?
That said, Windows 11 is such an AI-fueled privacy dumpster fire that it’s getting replaced by Linux on my gaming PC this month. Then I’m only stuck on Windows for work, and even then I can still write code on Mac or Linux.
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