I recently came across this little article that highlights the fact that webcams are going to be mandatory for Windows 11 laptops in the future. The author makes it clear they have some problems with privacy too but I'll dive into that later.
Is this definitely the case?
Having a quick look into the official windows 11 documentation itself, you can verify this for yourself:
"Starting from January 1, 2023, all Device Types except Desktop PC, are required to have Forward-facing camera which meets the following requirements. A rear-facing camera is optional."
Oh, okay. No worries for desktop users, that's great!
Phew, good thing I'm a desktop user...
Though, you may be able to guess where this is going. Here's a nice little citation from just this year with current estimates for shipments of "Notebook, desktop PC, and tablet shipments worldwide from 2010 to 2025".
Now, ignoring the troubles one might have viewing these charts without being hit by a paywall: they were also quite kind to include mention of an estimate for Microsoft's control of the operating system space.
"with around 70 percent of desktop, tablet and console computing devices running the Microsoft Windows operating system."
Ah. Here in lies the problem. The desktop market is a dwindling population, even considering the increased demands of gaming systems there isn't an expected rise in popularity for them whatsoever. Possibly coinciding really with the latest generation of consoles (of which the second biggest player is also Microsoft owned...) we can see that this is going to impact an incredible number of people both today and in the future.
But what's the issue? Seems harmless enough, don't most laptops have webcams anyway?
OK, Mr big fictional guy whose text is larger than mine; Sure. Maybe you would actively want a webcam included with your laptop for convenience sake. Hell, lets not forget the fact you most likely already have access to cameras, if not several on the mobile phone you carry around. So what's the issue?
It's mandatory. That's the issue. It's going to absolutely be enforced. So lets be real, I can't foresee a single consumer apple device ever not including a webcam from here out but then it's not like you ever had a choice or a say in the matter of what type of laptop you wanted to ship with OS X. Then the market is so devoid of laptops shipping with GNU/Linux operating systems that you are pretty much restricted to a few key manufacturers (System76, Pinebook, Starlabs) who don't have the market share to really start experimenting or offering massive amounts of differing products due to their cutthroat competition in the space. And don't even think about a commercial * BSD laptop.
So that leaves most (as cited, somewhere around 70%, possibly greater) people being stuck in the windows ecosystem where you are now, with no reason other than to push for Windows Hello (presumably, lets not think much further about mandating a camera be placed on a proprietary operating system that's known for poor security and very possibly open to being backdoored).
And yes, there are laptops that exist now that don't include webcams, you can look to a handful of the latest generation ASUS laptops such as the Zephyrus G14/G15 or Strix S17. There's a market for these devices and it's clearly not an absolute deal breaker for anyone who happens to pick up those quite popular laptops.
Oh, so it's just about control and not about making a good experience?
Absolutely, headless voice text response from the heavens, that does seems to be it, and it's disappointing, really. It's not hard to imagine how an otherwise completely acceptable laptop sans webcam ends up falling short of Microsoft's """"minimum spec"""" and is not permitted to be sold with copies of windows 11 from 2023 onward.
This is the sort of change I dislike immensely. It really only exists to benefit the existing giant who will no doubt successfully enforce such a ludicrous change by exploiting their position as the dominant monopoly of operating systems. It stifles the customers selection and ties the hands of the manufacturers, forcing them to jump through yet more arbitrary hoops.
What if you didn't want a webcam because you always carry a better one via usb and don't fancy dealing with the drivers or setup of changing to it? What if you aren't comfortable with having a webcam nor an IR sensor on your device for whatever reason? What if you didn't want one because you wanted a bezel-less design without compromising the display with an under-display sensor? What if you wanted a machine that could be more easily repaired because the screen would be cheaper and easier to replace entirely?
At the very least, I hoped this gave you some perspective on this issue that has gone through without much thought. I imagine partly because of it being so distant in deployment. Perhaps this is able to open up the conversation of non-windows operating systems to people. I believe that the majority of people are not in need of such high power modern machines anyway and that there is basically no restriction to the average person (perhaps including yourself even considering some professional occupations) of looking the way of a free (libre) operating system full-time for a portable laptop at the least.
Or maybe not. There's certainly a future where nobody even carries a laptop but instead has a shell of a device that hooks up to their mobile phone that happens to be more than capable of keeping up with their postmodern standard of computing. But now we're speculating again. And until 2023, don't forget to give your webcam a wave every now and then, you never know.
Til next time.