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How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

teybannerman.com

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Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#311

Post by idle_zealot »

simonw wrote: post #249

The thing that really confuses me about this is that it has very real negative consequences. I cannot have a conversation about Copilot! If someone says "I used Copilot to..." or "Copilot is great for..." or "Copilot sucks because..." they haven't communicated any useful information to me, because I have no idea what product they are talking about. And if I ask them (which I always do) they still have trouble describ…

> I cannot have a conversation about Copilot!

> If someone says "I used Copilot to..." or "Copilot is great for..." or "Copilot sucks because..." they haven't communicated any useful information to me, because I have no idea what product they are talking about.

I think this is basically a rephrasing of the reason for the shared name. This appears to be an attempt at brand unification.

Microsoft wants user's experiences with their products to blend together into an undifferentiated (in more positive terms, "seamless") set of interactions. Not a set of discrete pieces of software, just interacting with Microsoft via Copilot to... ask it to do their work for them, mostly. This is the AI-native future they're building towards. You complain that users can't talk about what tool they're using. Microsoft doesn't want people knowing or caring what tool they're using. Just pay your subscription and have Copilot read and respond to your email for you.

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#314

Post by hypercube33 »

zero_bias wrote: post #289
make3 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gaming too I guess still

This won’t last for long too. Valve with SteamDeck and apparent future release of SteamMachine/SteamOS is preparing users for Linux gaming

My consoles (Xbox and switch) are terrible at the basic thing like updates. My steam deck on the other hand does update all the time but I never notice and haven't ever picked it up off the dock and been stopped from playing a game because it needed to update something. I think they'll start eating everones lunch if they keep making it easier to use and if their 2026 products are good.

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#315

Post by zuminator »

idle_zealot wrote: post #311
simonw wrote: post #249

The thing that really confuses me about this is that it has very real negative consequences. I cannot have a conversation about Copilot! If someone says "I used Copilot to..." or "Copilot is great for..." or "Copilot sucks because..." they haven't communicated any useful information to me, because I have no idea what product they are talking about. And if I ask them (which I always do) they still have trouble describ…

> I cannot have a conversation about Copilot! > If someone says "I used Copilot to..." or "Copilot is great for..." or "Copilot sucks because..." they haven't communicated any useful information to me, because I have no idea what product they are talking about. I think this is basically a rephrasing of the reason for the shared name. This appears to be an attempt at brand unification. Microsoft wants user's experienc…

The problem for Microsoft is that branding only works if it's built off a solid, widespread product with a good repuation. Github Copilot might be solid but it's a niche product that most people have never heard of. So people wind up associating the entire Copilot brand with the mediocre to bad Copilot experiences they are exposed to on a daily basis, such as the useless Copilot button on Copilot+ PC keyboards.

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#316

Post by hypercube33 »

gedy wrote: post #101
Waterluvian wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft .NET Copilot

Microsoft Azure .NET Copilot 365

You jest but there is the Office Hub that seemed like a solution in search of a problem and it was renamed into Microsoft Copilot 365 and has basically the same icon as Copliot. The 365 is paid the non is not.

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#317

Post by LiamPowell »

siva7 wrote: post #309
leokennis wrote: post #306

While Microsoft in general is a mess, this article is like saying: what even is “save”? Microsoft has 1286 save products! Save in Word, Save in Paint, Save in Notepad… Copilot means there’s a button/menu/command in the Microsoft app/site/tool that allows the user to pass whatever text/file/site/context/prompt is on the screen to the Copilot AI backend so it can summarize/transform/expand/explain it, and then have the…

That's a bad analogy you made. Copilot is a Product Platform, Save is a basic software function that even my grandma could explain what it does. You don't have to believe me, test it yourself: Let your grandma explain what save does in Microsoft Word or Excel. Then let her explain what Copilot does in Outlook, VSCode, Bing, Github Copilot, Bing, Sharepoint, Microsoft 365 and so on..

> Microsoft 365

That's Microsoft 365 Copilot now actually.

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#318

Post by jazzcomputer »

dwedge wrote: post #275

Microsoft has always seemed to be a little chaotic and buggy in everything it did, but it was always dominant and assertive. Recently it seems like they might be about to do the impossible and throw away that market position - their cloud is imploding, they all but gave up on their AI goals, apparently the Windows UI is designed now by employees who use Macs so never use their own dog food, and while I don't believe…

We use Teams at work and when you choose the icon it takes you to a screen that has a large icon of a door with a rope in front of it. From there you get to choose Teams on web or Teams the app. The point of the door is to tell you that Teams classic is no longer available, which is a huge part of the visual hierarchy. It's very strange - Teams classic was phased out long ago, but they still tell you this, and the negative connotation of a door with a rope in front of it resides in your mind as you move forward. This is one of the many operating quirks one sees from day to day.

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#319

Post by Melatonic »

simonw wrote: post #249

The thing that really confuses me about this is that it has very real negative consequences. I cannot have a conversation about Copilot! If someone says "I used Copilot to..." or "Copilot is great for..." or "Copilot sucks because..." they haven't communicated any useful information to me, because I have no idea what product they are talking about. And if I ask them (which I always do) they still have trouble describ…

Clippy is finally getting his revenge

Re: How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'?

#320

Post by cylemons »

chatmasta wrote: post #176
esafak wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try to pack as much clear work into your prompt as you can so you don't go back and forth.

Do hacks like “read prompt.md, and follow its instructions. When you’re done, read it again and follow its instructions.” And then you have some background process appending to the file to keep it warm and you just keep writing there?

There is a limit on how much copilot can do in one request, pretty generous but after some time vscode will say "this request is taking very long, do you want to continue" and that would count as a seperate request
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