Windows to get ‘flight data recorder’

Ina Fried
CNET News.com
April 27, 2005, 09:00 BST


Microsoft wants much more information about what users were doing
when their PC crashes, which could have serious privacy implications


In a move that could rankle privacy advocates,
Microsoft said on Monday it is adding the PC equivalent
of a flight data recorder to the next version of Windows,
in an effort to better understand and prevent computer crashes.

The tool will build on the existing Watson error-reporting tool in Windows
but will provide Microsoft with much deeper information,
including what programs were running at the time of the error
and even the contents of documents that were being created.
Businesses will also choose whether they want their own
technology managers to receive such data
when an employee’s machine crashes.

“Think of it as a flight data recorder, so that any time there’s a problem,
that ‘black box’ is there helping us work together and diagnose
what’s going on,”
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said during a speech at the
Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle.

For consumers, the choice of whether to send the data,
and how much information to share, will be up to the individual.
Though the details are being finalised,
Windows lead product manager Greg Sullivan said users
will be prompted with a message indicating the information to be sent
and giving them an option to alter it,
such as removing the contents of the email they were writing
when the machine crashed.
Also, such reporting will be anonymous.