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The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

zdnet.com

121–130 of 591 posts

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#122

Worse than CoPilot is the new Notepad. Can close the program without saving the file, open it again and it is still there! WTF?

Sublime Text and VS Code both do the same thing. I can imagine that it takes a bit to get used to, assuming that you'd even want to, but I've found it to be very handy: At this point in time 6 unsaved text documents open in Sublime Text, covering a variety of subjects that I haven't quite finished working on, or that I just want to remember for later

IMO, that is encouraging a very bad habit.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#124
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that the plan will be Office -> Office 365 -> Microsoft 365 -> Microsoft 365 Copilot -> Microsoft Copilot.

Why was it Microsoft 365 in the first place? Does it not work on leap days ?

Good question, 360 would have been better, full circle coverage of all your (office) productivity needs.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#125
post #75

Hate that if you use Word for Mac, you now have Copilot next to your cursor with no way of turning it off. I just want to use Word. I like its print layout features better than Pages. I don't want to switch. Just let me write and leave me alone. Now they're jamming AI down my throat without any opt-out mechanism.

> Hate that if you use Word for Mac, you now have Copilot next to your cursor with no way of turning it off. They should put it in the bottom corner, next to an animated paperclip instead.

>next to an animated paperclip instead.

Now that would be kinda funny, Clippy powered by modern AI

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#126
post #113
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the article explains, that's not been implemented on Mac yet.

That's not correct and also not what the article says. They are only talking about Excel and PowerPoint. "We're working on adding the Enable Copilot checkbox to Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint on Windows devices and to Excel and PowerPoint on Mac devices." I am using Word on my Mac (version 16.93) and do have a checkbox that disables Copilot.

Odd - I also have 16.93 on Mac and I don't get the checkbox (unless I just can't find it I guess).

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#127
post #6

My problem with this isn't the price increase. It's the blurring of what used to be a clearly understandable suite of products (e.g. Office) and services (e.g. OneDrive) into a soup of weird AI and cloud stuff that all goes under a single unhelpful name (Copilot). My mental model of what I'm actually purchasing is broken in this new paradigm.

> what used to be a clearly understandable suite of products (e.g. Office) I only assume you refer to the pre 2000 state of Office. Confusion started way befor AI. And to me the OneDrive - was forced on my in the job - was never a properly usable product, allowing others think differently, but to me, its weird ways and failures (i.e. renaming files) are jus barriers to efficiency.

The move to a subscription model is where I started to lose the thread, and it’s gotten worse from there.

I understand OneDrive as Microsoft’s version of Dropbox, but the more it’s integrated into Windows/Office, the more confusion it causes me.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#129
This is an excellent opportunity to tell our friends and family: It's time to consider switching to

--==[[ LIBRE OFFICE! ]]==--

because:

1. It's a very good office suite that isn't subject to "fashionable remakes" and other Microsoft shenanigans.

2. over 100 million people use it - mostly on Windows and many on Linux and Mac.

3. No AI! And it certainly doesn't keep track of what you do, and it doesn't call home to tell anyone about you or share a copy of your private documents.

4. No logging into anything or managing licenses.

5. You can download and use it for free: www.libreoffice.org (and it's on Chocolatey and WinGet too I think, if you're in Windows-land) . But of course it helps a lot when people also donate.

7. It has good community support; and there are also options for paid support, training, transition and deployment if you're in a business or organization.

8. There are also written guides in several languages for those who like that format, and there are some video tutorials etc.

and finally:

9. It is managed by a democratically-run public foundation with members from across the world. There are no large companies or governments pulling the strings or calling the shots.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#130

Microsoft really has to pull itself together in terms of product branding. Microsoft 365 itself was a terrible name for an office suite, but adding a "copilot" at the end is hitting too low a bar. Not sure how it even got an approval in the first place.

Today, I noticed there was a new App on my Windows laptop at work, because the Apps section was highlighted. "That's weird," I thought "I don't _remember_ installing anything."

So, I expand "Apps", and I see an item named "Microsoft CoPilot 365". It absolutely did not occur to me that this was a rebranded/updated Office. I simply thought "Aww, man, Microsoft is at it again, raining some new crap on me that I never asked for." Without a moment's thought I right-clicked it and uninstalled. Only now as I read this thread I realize I may have accidentally uinstalled MS Office.

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