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The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

zdnet.com

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Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#141

Post by evanelias »

munchler wrote: 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.

> that all goes under a single unhelpful name (Copilot)

This isn't even a new dumb move for Microsoft. In the early 2000s, they applied the .NET brand to lots of random things that were completely unrelated to the runtime/framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_.NET_strategy

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#142

Post by rpdillon »

for_i_in_range wrote: post #8

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.

Fascinating strategy. It looks like they're forcing everybody into it, so it's opt-out, except there is no opt-out in the initial version of the app. They seem to be in the process of adding it now.

> In your app (for example, Word), select the app menu, and then go to Preferences > Authoring and Proofing Tools > Copilot > Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox > Close and restart the app.

> If you do not see the related button, it means this button has not been pushed to your Office version yet. Please be patient and wait for the development team to release an update.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-d...

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#143

Post by utdoctor »

robotnikman wrote: post #125
dunham wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

“It looks like you’re trying to build AGI! Need help taking over the world responsibly?”

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#144

Post by rpdillon »

drdaeman wrote: post #92
smt88 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the death of essays and also of reading. Why read a book when AI can read it for you? Teachers I know have already seen this happening.

> Why read a book when AI can read it for you? When I was a kid I used short summaries and others' essays for composing my "own" essays on the books I did not want to read (for any reasons). I'm sure generations before me did the same thing, maybe just had it less accessible. If you are interested you're gonna read that book, most likely no matter how many alternatives you may have. If you're not interested it's not…

Yeah, I think the existence of Reader's Digest makes your point for you. I remember the first time my dad explained that it was misnamed because it wasn't really for the readers. It was for the people who didn't want to read.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#145

Post by maximilianthe1 »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #49
for_i_in_range wrote: post #8

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.

If you throw word behind a firewall with something like little snitch, does copilot disappear? There is probably zero reason word, excel, or powerpoint should need to connect to the internet.

Excel has a sometimes useful feature of gripping data from tables from url.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#146

Post by Yeul »

surfingdino wrote: post #32
the_snooze wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Just let me write and leave me alone. Yeah, we have networked supercomputers in every pocket and on every desk. And word processors and spreadsheets have been around for decades---that use case is a solved problem. I suppose we can be charitable to Microsoft and say they're trying to innovate, but these AI features lack a clear practical need that they're meeting. It feels more like Big Tech flopping around trying t…

Microsoft is trying to stay relevant and have an answer to Wall St analysis asking them questions about their AI strategy. They will delete AI tools and helpers as soon as the industry goes after another "big idea".

I guess making billions of profit isn't enough you need to do something with AI.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#147

Post by citrin_ru »

Toutouxc wrote: post #86

I understand people who love Apple (or the OSS world) unconditionally and I understand people who hate either, but I find it hard to feel any kind of strong emotion towards Microsoft. Feels like there isn’t a single product person left in the company, no vision, no direction, no soul, no plan, nothing.

They used to make relatively good desktop OS and Office software with a consistent UI/UX - Windows 2000/XP/7, Office 97/2000 (if you disable Clippy). Then IMHO it went downhill first slowly and now faster. May be people are still attached to the platform they used for years.

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#149

Post by jay_kyburz »

infecto wrote: post #106
for_i_in_range wrote: post #8

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.

The MacOS copilot implementation is horrid. Takes up a significant amount of screen space just to offer a summary of the email. Cannot turn off. For whatever reason cannot be a simple button with pop up on click. It’s horrid.

I can't think of an email I have ever received that needed to be summarized?

Who is writing these super long emails?

Re: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a disaster

#150

Post by maximilianthe1 »

munchler wrote: post #127
mihaaly wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I was confused to discover (while deleting OneDrive), that it had changed my Desktop folder from User/Desktop to User/OneDrive/Desktop.
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