You already need custom scripts and third-party applications that make custom Windows ISOs to make installing Windows somewhat bearable – unless you enjoy spending hours manually disabling all the anti-user settings in Windows – and now there’s another setting to add to the massive, growing list of stuff you have to fix after setting up a new Windows installation. Microsoft has announced that Word will start saving every new file to OneDrive (or another provider if you’ve installed one) by default.
We are modernizing the way files are created and stored in Word for Windows! Now you don’t have to worry about saving your documents: Anything new you create will be saved automatically to OneDrive or your preferred cloud destination.
↫ Raul Munoz on the Microsoft 365 Insider Blog
There’s the usual spiel of how this is safer and supposedly more convenient, but I suspect the real reason Microsoft is doing this is listed right there at the end of the list of supposed benefits: this enables the use of Copilot’s “AI” features right from the beginning. In other words, by automatically saving your new Word documents to OneDrive by default, you’re giving Microsoft access to whatever you write for “AI” training purposes.
The setting can be changed, but defaults matter and few people change them. It’s also possible to set another provider than OneDrive as your online storage, but again – defaults matter. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if few people will even realise their Word documents will be stored not on their local PC, but on Microsoft’s servers.
Procedure to uninstall OneDrive and keep it uninstalled has been part of my notes for a new Windows install for quite some time now. The absurd length of those notes is a very large part of why I don’t use Windows on a regular basis anymore.
Although I prefer Google Suite, I like that if anything happens to my PC, I have a backup on the cloud. I really don’t see the problem. Unless you don’t use it for whatever reason.
The major problem is security. Sensitive documents should never be stored “in the cloud”. The US government at all levels uses Windows and Office even for secret and top secret documents, though I’m sure they have it specified in their contracts with Microsoft that they will have access to a special local-only version of Word and Excel. Beyond federal government though, you have corporations with trade secrets in MS Office documents, and it would be a nightmare scenario if those were leaked because they were automatically backed up to a server not controlled by said corporation.
On a more personal level, are you really okay with Microsoft’s “AI” being trained on the entire contents of your personal documents? Is the company you work for okay with their IP under your control being automatically scanned and digested by CoPilot and used to generate slop for everyone in the world?
The potential for misuse, espionage, and sabotage is unlimited when the user has no control over what happens to their documents. And before you say “just turn it off”, Microsoft is well known for turning features back on with every single update they release, this will be no different. Eventually the ability to turn it off will disappear altogether.
Thom Holwerda,
I agree all corporations need to do a better job respecting user wishes. Personally I have a strong dislike for sending documents unencrypted into corporate data silos, it’s not good that consumers are loosing control over their own data. They deserve even more demerits for doing it by default. However I think we need to be careful over the semantics of the criticism. In this case just because they may be scanning user documents with AI doesn’t mean those documents are being used for “AI training purposes”. It would be very newsworthy if they were actually using private customer data to train AI models, but I’d like to see the evidence for that rather than just assuming it.
They want operating systems and software to make the transition from being something users can own and run locally to a service where we remain perpetually dependent.
Alfman,
Yes, they want you to sell a service. Sorry… they want you to subscribe to a service.
“You won’t own anything, and you’d be happy”
To be fair, there are clear advantages for average user. For example, backups are automated, and multi-device synchronization as well. They also make it the default… with harder to change options every release.
So… as long as the average user is kept happy, there is no reason for Microsoft not to push further into this direction. Again, computers are no longer “power user” tools anymore.
sukru,
I don’t mind a backup service, but trustworthy backup services should really be encrypted for privacy, whereas this isn’t.
Alfman,
I definitely agree with you on that one. However… again… the average user is unlikely to have that concern at this time.
sukru,
Corporations having access to personal data is really creepy. It can lead to problems later even if people don’t realize it at the time. This is an example that you shared at one point.
https://www.techspot.com/news/95729-google-refuses-reinstate-account-man-after-flagged-medical.html
The more people who’s data gets piped away in clear text, the more likely it is to become subject to leaks, dragnets and court orders. The problem isn’t just incidental data collection, but that software is actually engineered to work this way on purpose. Obviously most people don’t know this, but the reason we’re loosing privacy isn’t because backups mandate 3rd parties have access to user data. It’s because tech companies have a selfish agenda in shaping software solutions to omit privacy. Sometimes the goal of monetizing user data is publicly unspoken, but it absolutely comes up behind closed corporate doors and unfortunately for us it is in direct conflict with user privacy.
Alfman,
Yes, that is true. They are “nudging” people into a certain direction.
This is a well known phenomenon in behavioral economics. Add in “dark patterns” and you get what you want in most of the population.
But this is the reason computers exist. Like anything else, they weren’t invented to serve the needs of some imaginary “users”. It’s just that now that we’re reaching the endgame this is getting more and more noticeable with each passing day, even by “normal” people.
The systems were in fact invented to serve users – Just that the first users were organizations and not individuals. Not to discount Babbage and company, but first real uses were military codebreaking. Later, the personal computer industry kicked off in the late 70’s to early 80’s was very much focused on individual tinkerers though it could be easily argued the real value proposition there was to get interested individuals working to move the industry forward as a whole.
The eternal tension between “User requests are what computers are for!” and “Doing our *business* is what computers are for.”
KelsonV,
There should at least be a clear case for:
“I bought all these components, including the Windows license. I should be able to anything I want on my personal system”
This was the case during MS-DOS times, even Windows 3.1 was fully customizable. I could even extend this to Windows 95/Me/2000/XP to a point, but “lockdowns” have already started.
Today, Microsoft can and will change your hand crafted settings and override your choices and even install software that you have previously explicitly uninstalled.
This is not a “product” anymore.
“or your preferred cloud destination”. If that cloud can be NextCloud, then this isn’t too horrible.
It’s funny how much PC hardware evolved: now, any crap pc has at least 256gb of storage, 8 cores, 16gb of ram…. all of that to be a dumb terminal doing near no local processing.
Or worse, use your local resources AND still send all that you do on your PC by default to some privacy violating monopolistic corporate server somewhere, like that.
Pro-tip: you can use Office without even having a Microsoft/Onedrive account if you activate it using MAS
I think this would push people to use hacks, like “English / World” instead of “en_US”, or buying single “worker” business versions.
And it is a bit frustrating to need to go through all these hoops.