Comment by larrybud
9 hours ago
Is ANYONE reading the article or going to the source prior to posting with outrage? Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experimental-age... (the original article is not available at the moment due to the ongoing Cloudfare outage)
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
"optional, experimental off-by-default service" is Microsoft-ese for "1-2 years away from being always on and unremovable"
Then the outrage can come when that happens? This comment section is 50% people that haven't used windows in 10 years complaining
it goes 'fool me once shame on you..' you know the rest of the sentence
So you're outraged at something that hasn't happened. Or to say it another way, you're outraged because you can imagine something bad happening?
From a corporation with a proven track record in those things? Let's not pretend like they should be given the benefit of the doubt.
MS online account was optional at a time but where are we now ? With MS track record, its not a question of if, but when.
The outrage here will probably not stop MS but it does signal that it is not a welcome move and it hopefully stops them from doing more bad things.
Even if few people realize that they don't have to tolerate this and if it make them move to alternatives, its worth it.