Readit NewsEven then, we're still talking about a perfect surveillance engine that allows any future person to observe your behaviour across your past. Imagine what it would mean for the police to retroactively search your entire life for the past 30 days when they arrest someone. Or how this might affect people living with abusive partners, or LGBTQ+ kids in non-supportive households.
This technology, no matter the implementation, puts vulnerable people at risk.
It should also be opt out by default for Microsoft.
I personally see a lot of use for this if it was running entirely local. I always find myself in a position where there's things which I've browsed or come across but it's difficult retrieving it from my history.
The problem with onboarding people to use Linux is like trying to convince an iPhone user to use an Android device. Many people are stuck in their respective ecosystem and are used to familiarity, they're not going to switch to linux unless you can get over the burden of switching.
In my anecdotal experience, I installed Linux for a teacher of mine and he had some issues with getting used to it but his kids quickly figured it out and weren't used to Windows or MacOS which made it significantly easier. Putting Linux computers in students hands is honestly the best way to increase adoption and Chromebooks are a perfect example of this.
So if you want custom structure, synchronize files from mobile to server in any way you prefer (Syncthing, PhotoSync, etc.) and add that folder as an external library.
If you're running an instance for less technical users it's more hiccups to setup syncthing etc and have to explain why another app is needed.
The last time I looked, Immich can’t work with a existing file and folder structure without importing (copy) everything in his own structure (database). That’s a big no go for me.
In Memories, the file structure of your photos is preserved as-is. And you can run it alongside with other solutions that respect your folder structure.
EDIT: looks like Immich can work with external folders. But: Does it put pictures from my phone in that external folder or in its own folder?
- Immich supports external libraries
- Use docker compose and never worry about versions breaking
You're correct, Immich does support external libraries. To be more elaborate with my original comment, I meant inbuilt apps of Nextcloud which integrate well and complement the memories app. An example app would be the Face recognition one or Recognize if you fancy a different implementation. Nextcloud is after all an ecosystem so using memories gains you the other benefits of such an ecosystem. This might be overkill for some so it's upto your usecases.
Versions breaking is an issue since both mobile and server clients have to be on the same version. Compared to Nextcloud Memories this is not an issue. This was an issue when I've last used Immich so this may have changed since then.