The Pulse #105: More trad tech companies to move off the public cloud?
Also: CockroachDB joins the trend of going from open source to proprietary license, a software glitch nearly floods Amsterdam, and more.
The Pulse is a series covering insights, patterns, and trends within Big Tech and startups. Notice an interesting event or trend? Send me a message.
Today, we cover:
Industry pulse. Microsoft Recall to be unremovable, another “AI talent raid” by Amazon, Ticketmaster struggles to handle common load challenges – sometimes, rise and fall of OpenSea, and more.
More trad tech companies to move off public cloud? In a recent report, 83% of chief information officers say they want to move more workload to private clouds. Cloud computing has matured and is becoming more expensive, while private cloud technology is increasingly accessible.
CockroachDB: open source product goes proprietary. Another VC-funded open source product closes itself off, in hope of generating more revenue and profits. Many users need to open their wallets and buy annual licenses, or fork and maintain an older version of CockroachDB.
Software glitch almost floods Amsterdam. Dams near the Dutch capital that were supposed to be closed, mysteriously opened at night during a violent storm. Disaster was averted by a curious employee – and the workaround to avoid similar incidents includes 24-hour human monitoring of dams and water levels.
1. Industry pulse
Microsoft Recall to be unremovable
Microsoft’s struggle with its controversial Recall feature continues. Recall is a “photographic memory” feature planned for Windows 11 which takes constant screenshots of a device, and makes it searchable. Its launch in June was a disaster, as Microsoft skipped basic security and privacy approaches – making these screenshots easily accessible for bad actors. A week after, Microsoft “recalled” Recall, confirming that it will not ship it with these glaring holes.
Now, the Redmond-headquartered tech giant is doubling down on Recall: it will be shipping on Windows 11, and the feature will have no option to be uninstalled. Users won’t be able to disable it.
The problem with making Recall core to Windows with no way to remove it or turn it off at the OS level, is that it could become a dealbreaker for enterprise clients which will not want an invasive, potentially insecure feature to run on machines by default. It’s also strange to see Microsoft so set on shipping this feature that is clearly designed to make some use of the hardware GPUs, even though the utility is still questionable. The company will surely keep getting bad press, and privacy-focused techies will have one more reason to stay clear of Windows.