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Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

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Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#71

Post by PeterHolzwarth »

jukkan wrote: post #2

8 million active users after almost 2 years from making the $30pupm license available. Less than 2% of Microsoft 365 paying customers choosing to pay extra for Copilot. It's not difficult to see why Microsoft themselves have stopped reporting on AI revenue, as well as not disclosing any official numbers on M365 Copilot sales. Luckily, a source leaked these figures for Ed Zitron to report in his newsletter.

I don't know, does it matter? What I mean is that the product only just, in the grand scheme of things, got rolled out. MS isn't under some instant pressure to make loads of cash off this new feature. Year by year, people will just become used to having a tool, part of their OS, that they can ask questions to to get some general information on whatever topic.

It's easy to pick an arbitrary date and point out the lack of profit. But why don't we pick a date a year from now? Or three years. Or five years.

I think over time users will come to assume that their computing device has, as part of the many tools on it, a tool that they can ask about stuff and get general answers.

Is it profitable right exactly now? No. But I suspect it will become completely commonplace in a few years, and not even worthy of note or comment for the average user.

MS isnt some cash-strapped startup that needs to post instant profits right this moment.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#73

Post by dangus »

p_ing wrote: post #47
dangus wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that it doesn’t actually do anything. It’s “installed” at my company but basically refuses to interact with basic company data like files in sharepoint. Is it the IT department’s fault for not enabling something? I don’t know, but does that matter? If the normal search system has access to the data why doesn’t copilot? Surely it would be trivial for Microsoft to run copilot in a way that keeps company…

> It’s “installed” at my company but basically refuses to interact with basic company data like files in sharepoint. We make heavy utilization of Copilot Studio lite and full. Lite has quick access to SharePoint/Teams data. Full has access to _any_ data that has a Power Platform connector, REST API, MCP server, or Copilot [Graph] connector, all of which you can build or buy yourself. SAP, SQL, Databricks, you name it…

If we have “Chat” it doesn’t even seem to have what I would describe as “quick” access. It seems to just do nothing.

Not a very compelling product in terms of tempting companies to buy a license.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#74

Post by jhickok »

alirath wrote: post #70

In my limited experience using copilot at work, i think it has been a game changer for non-technical computer users. Many of my coworkers and i use it as the first attempt at research especially now that it is connected to SharePoint within my company and provides references to the documents it is pulling from. Saves hours for things like compiling international regulations or standards documentation. Additionally, i…

Augmenting/replacing search seems to be one of the truly useful benefits of Copilot. Not sure if that's because it's good or because Teams/Sharepoint search is so bad.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#75

Post by dangus »

PeterHolzwarth wrote: post #36
dangus wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that it doesn’t actually do anything. It’s “installed” at my company but basically refuses to interact with basic company data like files in sharepoint. Is it the IT department’s fault for not enabling something? I don’t know, but does that matter? If the normal search system has access to the data why doesn’t copilot? Surely it would be trivial for Microsoft to run copilot in a way that keeps company…

"The problem is that it doesn’t actually do anything." I disagree, and I think you'll see what I mean when you shift the frame of reference from "person working at a large company with Office 365 installed" to a couple hundred million average Joe's having access to it at home. Webs search is now a horrifying wasteland, and people know it. Remember the conversations we all had just a few years ago: LLM will replace we…

I’m just conveying my experience. Whatever copilot is at my company’s Microsoft portal seems to do absolutely nothing and connect to nothing.

Even if this is my company not paying for the license, it seems like a pretty miserable way for Microsoft to try to tempt companies into buying one by delivering a completely useless “light” experience.

Everything you’re describing that’s wonderful about the Windows copilot button is the stuff I’m already doing on ChatGPT.com because that brand name came first.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#76

Post by lenkite »

PeterHolzwarth wrote: post #53
flykespice wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That little copilot icon is sitting there in the task tray, clickable and usable. I'm using Win 11 and I didn't even notice Copilot on my task bar until you mentioned it... I think that is a wakeup call for me to finally flash my pc to linux

I get what you - a HN user - mean. But for the broader planet of Windows users, it just becomes this thing you click to get some general info from on whatever general topic, question, or need comes to mind. I think it is rapidly becoming quit banal - a thing people think of as just being another part of using their computing device. No fanfare; no fireworks; no hand-wringing over rights or privacy or training data: j…

Man, you have really bought into the LLM kool-aid. Your latest response feels as if it was spit-balled by ChatGPT.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#77

Post by ankurdhama »

flykespice wrote: post #46
PeterHolzwarth wrote: post #18

I perceive MS as just being in the "get people using it, accustomed to it, used to it, habituated to using it throughout their day" phase for the default free Win10/11 tier. That little copilot icon is sitting there in the task tray, clickable and usable. I think people will, to whatever degree makes sense for them, get used to making some use of the basic free tier. Monetization / restrictions requiring some degree…

> That little copilot icon is sitting there in the task tray, clickable and usable. I'm using Win 11 and I didn't even notice Copilot on my task bar until you mentioned it... I think that is a wakeup call for me to finally flash my pc to linux

What's worse then copilot on task bar is the copilot key on keyboard. This key doesn't even have its own scan code, instead it send something like Win+Shift+F23.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#78

Post by PeterHolzwarth »

lenkite wrote: post #76
PeterHolzwarth wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you - a HN user - mean. But for the broader planet of Windows users, it just becomes this thing you click to get some general info from on whatever general topic, question, or need comes to mind. I think it is rapidly becoming quit banal - a thing people think of as just being another part of using their computing device. No fanfare; no fireworks; no hand-wringing over rights or privacy or training data: j…

Man, you have really bought into the LLM kool-aid. Your latest response feels as if it was spit-balled by ChatGPT.

You misunderstand me: I don't advocate - I'm just expressing what I think is likely for the billion people out there who now have access to these tools. This Hackernews community is a rather rarefied atmosphere. When we step out into the broader public, there is a whole different world going on. Whether we like it or not, that world is what we have to deal with.

Re: Microsoft 365 Copilot's commercial failure

#79

Post by p_ing »

dangus wrote: post #73
p_ing wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s “installed” at my company but basically refuses to interact with basic company data like files in sharepoint. We make heavy utilization of Copilot Studio lite and full. Lite has quick access to SharePoint/Teams data. Full has access to _any_ data that has a Power Platform connector, REST API, MCP server, or Copilot [Graph] connector, all of which you can build or buy yourself. SAP, SQL, Databricks, you name it…

If we have “Chat” it doesn’t even seem to have what I would describe as “quick” access. It seems to just do nothing. Not a very compelling product in terms of tempting companies to buy a license.

You can get trial full licenses if you’re interested in it. Chat isn’t meant to be anything more than the consumer experience with some business data.
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