What I see is that the AI agent is an optional, experimental off-by-default service that is configured to only have access to the folders you specifically choose.
From the MS article:
"An agent workspace is a separate, contained space in Windows where you can grant agents access to your apps and files so they can complete tasks for you in the background while you continue to use your device. Each agent operates using its own account, distinct from your personal user account. This dedicated agent account establishes clear boundaries between agent activity and your own, enabling scoped authorization and runtime isolation. As a result, you can delegate tasks to agents while retaining full control, visibility into agent actions, and the ability to manage access at any time.
Agents typically get access to known folders or specific shared folders, and you can see this reflected in the folder’s access control settings. Each agent has its own workspace and its own permissions—what one agent can access doesn’t automatically apply to others.
[..]
Agent workspace is only enabled when you toggle on the experimental agentic feature setting. The feature is off by default."
Funnily enough this is exactly how I ended up setting up CLI coding agents. E.g. made a separate user account, granted it RO or RW access to some of my projects, et viola
+1 to this post. Ex-Microsoft employee here (left last year after 7 years) and I agree completely with the parent.
The article makes mountains out of molehills. Every large company has its own culture and its own BS. Having worked at many over my career, Microsoft’s was better than most (actually, I’d say it was better than all of them).
Yes, I’ve done this for years. And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever “caught” a business sharing a service when they shouldn’t have.
Makes me question why continue to do it.
I've been doing this for years, as well. I've also found that the majority of companies I give an email address to are actually surprisingly good stewards of that information. However, I have found a number of email leaks. It looks like my block list is up to 31 addresses. Most of those are leaks that led to spam. (Although one was a smoothie chain that insisted on sending me email every single day, and their unsubscribe page always seemed to be "malfunctioning".)
I don't think all or most of these companies on the list are intentionally selling my address to spammers. I suspect most of these leaks are due to poor handling of the data or server compromises. (Surely Adobe, for example, isn't so desperate that they would sell my address to spammers.) But whether by malice or incompetence, I can easily block them.
Agreed; the article is very one sided and also get some of the fundamentals wrong (for example, it uses the term “web sites” when it should be talking about domains)
It also fails to draw any analogy between domain privacy services and real world analogies such as using LLCs.
If this fearmongering leads to the death of domain privacy (and I do think media campaigns like this often precede and foreshadow legislative campaigns), individuals who own domains will just be forced to create dummy business entities in some cheap jurisdiction in order to keep their info private. Hardly a win for law and order.
It was a useful way to run kindle on a surface tablet (as the windows version of the kindle app is not touchscreen friendly). Other than that, I didn’t find many use cases.
Appreciate the effort, but my sample question (what’s the best double oven) gave a non-answer:
> There is no clear consensus on the best double oven, as opinions vary widely depending on personal preferences and experiences. Some popular options include LG Electronics, OSTER French Door Stainless Steel, and KitchenAid Compact Convection Countertop Oven. Other users suggest considering factors such as size, color, budget, type of top, and amount and type of ovens. Some users recommend buying used or considering a convection microwave as a second oven. Others caution against combo units and suggest investing in separate high-quality appliances for specific tasks, such as a toaster oven for toasting and an air fryer for frying.
While cool that this was able to be synthesized, from a practical standpoint, the answer is useless. OF COURSE I am going to consider different brands, size, color, budget, etc.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll look into improving the summarization to give more specific recommendations based on the comments that are feeded in. The references look good for your case, but the answer is indeed a non-answer.
> GCP and Azure currently lose money for Google and Microsoft
100% not true for Microsoft. Just listen to the most recent earnings call or read the analyst reports.
Eg https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/microsoft-nasdaq:msft:-cloud...
“In fiscal Q2, Microsoft Cloud’s gross profit margin even expanded by about 2% year-over-year to 72%. When you have a business with such high margins growing at 20%+, profitability is set to expand considerably even if revenues in other segments fail to rebound”
Back in the early 2000’s I read an interview with Ben Affleck where he said his favorite pizza was HIFi! Sadly I can’t find the article via an internet search; it was in some inflight magazine I was flipping through to kill time.
Be aware of the following: Unfortunately, if you want to use the new iOS advanced data protection feature of iOS 16.2, ALL your devices must be at 16.2 or higher.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212520
Meaning, if you are using your very old iPad that can’t be upgraded, you won’t be able to use advanced data protection on your primary, up to date devices. Eg, in my case, I am sadly retiring these old devices that I was just using for ebook purposes.
What I see is that the AI agent is an optional, experimental off-by-default service that is configured to only have access to the folders you specifically choose.
From the MS article: "An agent workspace is a separate, contained space in Windows where you can grant agents access to your apps and files so they can complete tasks for you in the background while you continue to use your device. Each agent operates using its own account, distinct from your personal user account. This dedicated agent account establishes clear boundaries between agent activity and your own, enabling scoped authorization and runtime isolation. As a result, you can delegate tasks to agents while retaining full control, visibility into agent actions, and the ability to manage access at any time.
Agents typically get access to known folders or specific shared folders, and you can see this reflected in the folder’s access control settings. Each agent has its own workspace and its own permissions—what one agent can access doesn’t automatically apply to others.
[..]
Agent workspace is only enabled when you toggle on the experimental agentic feature setting. The feature is off by default."