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Microsoft wants you to install Linux
Mission Accomplished.
I delayed Linux on the main computer for years for the kids' video games and trying to give MS a chance when they were trying to be good (WSL2, Win10 forever, etc.)
Now when I start the machine in windows, a splash screen comes up and literally tells me to buy a new computer. Linux has been lovely.
WSL(2) was not Microsoft "being good". It was part of Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
It was clear Linux won in the server world (not IIS). So why don't you run this lovely Linux as an app in our nice safe OS where we can keep milking you.
“CORTANA, OPEN XHAMSTER.COM”
loudly said george in the public school’s computer lab.
let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI
This should be the headline.
Then everyone can make up their minds about whether or not to stay with Microsoft or finally move on.
Just doing everything they can to drive people away from Windows.
To drive some people away from Windows. Others will like this kind of thing, and still others will be indifferent. Bear in mind that we're in an anti-AI social media bubble here, opinions are not uniform.
I can’t imagine people would think this is a good idea past the point that they actually have to use this to get anything done, the best would be huffing copium thinking that the part where it gets good is right around the corner
I try to never underestimate what people are willing to do, like, and put up with for whatever reasons.
Considering how un-tech savvy newer generations are, I would not be shocked if the idea of being able to tell a computer what to do and "it just does it" appeals. This is, of course, assuming it works as intended (lol.)
I also see this as a further dumbing down of that ability to understand tech. Hypothetically, if this were to launch, go mainstream, and the vast majority of future computer users use it, can you imagine a world in which a future teenager looks confused and goes, "What's an app?"
And I would like Microsoft to go fuck itself. 🖕🥰🖕
And I'll just install Linux and not do that
If a tech executive says we're on the cusp of a technology breakthrough it means less than nothing and we should be more suspicious of it than already. These are people who don't know how to manage an organization based on the frequent layoffs (2009, 2014, 2023-2025 over 20k workers). People get fired because they fuck up, management layoff people because management fucked up.
I hate any voice-activated programs. Sometimes I'll ask my phone to call someone, and most of the time it does. But every now and then, it seems to completely forget my voice, the English language, how to access my contacts, how to spell anything, etc. I end up spending five minutes trying to force it to dial by my voice, screaming and cursing at it like a psychopath, when it would have taken me literally 3 seconds to just make the call manually.
If you try to do some sort of voice-to-text thing, it ALWAYS screws it up so bad, that you end up spending more time editing, than if you'd just typed it yourself in the first place.
Fuck voice-activated anything. It NEVER works reliably.
It isn't even unique to AI, human operators get things wrong all the time. Any time you put something involving natural language between the user/customer and completing a task, there's a significant risk of it going wrong.
The only time I want hands-free anything is when driving, and I'd rather pull over than deal with voice activation unless it's an emergency and I can't stop driving.
I don't get this fascination with voice activation. If you asked me to describe my dream home if money was no object and tech was perfect, voice activation would not be on the list. When I watch Iron Man or Batman talking to a computer, I don't see some pinnacle of efficiency, I see inefficiency. I can type almost as fast as I can speak, and I can make scripts or macros to do things far faster than I can describe them to a computer. Shortcuts are far more efficient than describing the operation.
If a product turns to voice activation, that tells me they've given up on the UX.
I like my PC being my PC. The more it does things I don't ask of it or tell it to do, the more I will seek alternatives.
One of the most frustrating parts of MS products these days is that you're just along for the ride. And unlike Apple which is just the same, MS has far less intuitive behaviour or method. I would say their products are for beginners or those not tech literate, but the failure rate and amount of complex troubleshooting required for MS products and environments are easily the most challenging and frequent. It does not help that Windows Update constantly introduces new issues to the OS and other software while undoing any previous workarounds.
That company doesn't get to touch my stuff anymore. It's like trusting your car to a four year old.
"Open the browser. No, not explorer, Edge! Open Edge, god damn it! Go to CNN.com. why did you open another browser window? No, I don't want to open another browser window. Open the news "Everything sucks and we are all going to die". Why did you open Bing? Stop asking for confirmation for everything...
Not a week goes by without a headline reminding me what a good decision it was to jump ship to Linux.
I have not touched a Microsoft product or service for my personal life in 10 years. Last year I was fired, thus no longer being forced to use Teams.
Which means I haven't touched a Microsoft product, at all, in a year. Love it.
I'll be honest, my biggest problem with something like this is that ai sophisticated enough to do anything useful cannot be run locally. That means every single time the clanker is asked to do something you are uploading significant amounts of personal information in an unencrypted form to some datacenter somewhere, for whoever to just do whatever they want with it.
People have been doing that with their Alexas all this time already. They have paid Amazon to bug their houses so they won't have to press a light switch by hand anymore.
"Meet the computer that spies on you in totally new and innovative ways"
I mean the whole "AI" trend would be just "whatever" to me if they didn't force it onto people that hard (and if it didn't fuck over the environment).
Luckily I installed [REDACTED] on my rig years ago!
Tip for any future product designers: Just because it looks cool in a movie, doesn't mean it'll translate well into reality as a useful product.
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that"
Microsoft:
Your computer?
No.
Our computer.
That you pay for the hardware for, that you pay regular rent to use in any way, that we use for anything we want, at any time, that must be always online to function.
Innovation.
EDIT:
I've said it before, Windows is going to end up as a Corpo ONLY OS, for orgs and people who cannot escape their vendor lock-in trap.
No sane, moderately knowledgeable/informed person would willingly choose to start with a home or business setup oriented around Windows, unless there truly is something that only works on Windows that they for some reason need and cannot use an alternative.
Their entire business model is complex, opaque cost shifting and 'gradual' enshittification within their rent-based ecosystem lock-in.
GTFO as soon as you can, as a person or business or whatever, this will only keep getting worse.
The vision of an AI PC, where it may or may not launch the app you tell it to, where one plus one may or may not be two, where deleting a file may delete the file you see, or a random different one.
Sounds great! /s
Imagine the cost of cloud AI on PCs. That only works too some degree for cloud data and being even more wasteful for the rest.
Every document you have, legal and medical, finance and personal, will all interface with the cloud. With numerous parties en route, visible and hidden, and a massive system you may or may not trust.
Switch to linux, use open source AI. It's better and private.
The way that all this "AI" processing has been trained, it almost always fails for anyone who doesn't fit the white middle-class aesthetic. Voice-to-text generative AI processing will screw up for people with accents, including non-native speakers; also someone who slurs their words, or talks in African-American Vernacular English. Also, it requires someone to know how to speak and listen in a language. Clicking on icons and inputting commands is the same regardless of what language you speak. This just reeks of out-of touch nepo-baby executives.
I see no legitimate reason to let ANY AI have full access to my computer. It's just unnecessary.
If I need to ask an AI to proofread something, or I need help sorting through a programming error. I'll go to its website and ask it.
There is no reason (for me) to let it sit there chilling on my computer 24-7 doing good knows what.
The hell with that, fuck you MS.