The 12 months 2023 was a roller-coaster trip for Microsoft, because the tech large confronted each triumphs and tribulations in its quest to dominate the business. From launching new services and products, to coping with lawsuits and scandals, to creating some shocking strikes and bulletins, Microsoft had its share of wins, fails, and WTF moments.
Not dangerous, huh? I requested Microsoft Copilot to put in writing that, saving me a valuable minute or two. And then it fortunately gave me an instance: the launch of Windows 11…which, in fact, truly occurred in October of 2021. So, yeah, that was Microsoft’s 2023 in a nutshell: All the promise of AI, tempered with the fact that it nonetheless wants a lot of labor.
So as we proceed our doubtful vacation custom of 2021 and 2022, sit back together with your favourite vacation beverage and luxuriate in our recap of the place Microsoft went proper, the place it went improper, and the place it completely went off the rails.
The launch of Bing Chat and AI: WIN
In February, Microsoft invited reporters from throughout to its company headquarters in Redmond, WA, to witness the launch of what was then known as Bing, or Bing Chat. This was the daybreak of AI, at the least from Microsoft’s perspective; ChatGPT had taken the world by storm on the finish of December 2022 as individuals started to appreciate that the Turing check was in actual jeopardy. Microsoft showed off the new Bing, with the first hands-on of the new tech highlighting each its strengths and limitations.
Mark Hachman / IDG
The factor that sticks with me? Microsoft virtually dragging reporters to a big auditorium the place we had been very earnestly and really lengthily assured that Bing had been skilled with all types of moral guardrails to guarantee a healthful, significant expertise. And then all hell broke free.
The tech world goes insane for ‘Sydney’: WTF
Instantly, the tech press pounced on the brand new chatbot like a bloodlusting lion that hadn’t eaten in weeks. Researchers shortly discovered their approach across the guardrails and discovered each that Bing’s “name” was truly Sydney, her preliminary directions, and methods round them. The New York Times finally uncovered that Sydney needed to be alive, and to even have an affair. Bing happily listed a bunch of ethnic slurs.
Once that Times story hit, the gloves had been off. The world started bullying Microsoft’s new chatbot, making an attempt to argue or gaslight it into pondering it was Sydney, and to making an attempt to convince it to go nuts. Was Microsoft’s chatbot a factor that may very well be explored and exploited for vulnerabilities? Or an anthropomorphized creation that must be handled with empathy? No one wrote a narrative like “Bing Bullies Should Be Cancelled,” but it surely wouldn’t shock me if they’d.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Within per week, Microsoft had entered disaster mode, making Bing Chat less crazy through extra critical guardrails.
Bing Chat evolves into Copilot: FAIL
In 2023, AI grew to become the brand new metaverse buzzword, and it was clearly needed that Microsoft push its AI resolution into as many merchandise because it may to determine each a viable ecosystem in addition to the impression that it was the dominant AI supplier. Copilot is now in Windows, in addition to Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge, too.
Mark Hachman / IDG
The downside? Copilot is boring. Consider your mates: They’re most likely good, or opinionated, perhaps a bit nuts. But they’re fascinating, and that leads you to need to work together with them. Copilot is a useful software, and I’ll proceed to make use of it to summarize PDFs and as a glorified search engine. Microsoft will finally make gobs of cash off of it, most likely. But somebody is finally going to invent the TikTok of AI chatbots, and it’s going to drag consideration away from the AI pioneers like Copilot.
Microsoft kills Cortana: FAIL
What individuals are inclined to neglect, nevertheless, is that Bing Chat/Copilot wasn’t Microsoft’s first effort at AI. In 2016, Microsoft launched Tay, a web-based chatbot, and the terrible individuals of the Internet trained Tay into becoming racist. But Windows 10 also launched with Cortana, a pleasant chatbot with an precise voice through voice actor Jen Taylor.
Michael Crider/Foundry
In August, Microsoft removed Cortana from Windows, and it was a goddamn tragedy. Cortana represented one of many final makes an attempt to interject some character into Windows, as an alternative of it changing into a entrance for a soulless, company chatbot designed for productiveness and getting cash. Cortana may have been “powered” by Copilot, however Microsoft let the model die. (The Halo video games writing Cortana’s evolution as a monstrous AI bent on destroying a lot of the recognized universe most likely didn’t assist.)
Microsoft’s most profitable AI initiative, Bing Image Creator and Designer: WIN
But that does not imply that Microsoft’s AI efforts all lacked character. Bing Image Creator launched on the finish of 2022 as a reliable various to the best AI art generators. In 2023, it’s my first and sometimes final cease for AI artwork. Why? Because in March it incorporated the Dall-E 2 model, and bought higher; now its image generation uses Dall-E 3, and it’s excellent.
Bing Image Creator now calls itself “Image Creator from Microsoft Designer,” a connection I perceive however don’t wholly agree with. Microsoft Designer — which I loved when it first debuted — is in a knock-down, brutal battle with Canva, which is incorporating its own AI-driven initiatives and clearly has its fans at PCWorld. But each Designer and Bing Image Creator are inventive, with character, and I completely am rooting for this portion of Microsoft to succeed.
(And sure, our main picture is what got here up once I put “Microsoft wins fails WTF moments” into Image Creator. How are you able to not love zombies?)
Paint and Photos add AI: WIN
I’ve bemoaned the fate of Photos and even the obvious demise (and rebirth) of Paint earlier than, however each apps not solely appear alive and properly, however are rebounding with the incorporation of AI. Paint, for example, is adding both Cocreator (assume a primary model of Microsoft Designer) and Photoshop-like layers. And Photos not solely regained a few of its older enhancing options (good day Spot Fix, my outdated good friend) however can also be including background blurring, for my product photographs.
Generative AI artwork is definitely an apparent addition for Paint, however I’d actually hope that we see one thing like Photoshop’s generative fill arrive on Photos. Photoshop means that you can “crop” (however truly develop) a portrait right into a panorama format, by utilizing AI to create the lacking knowledge. It’s a kind of easy, helpful fixes that Microsoft’s utility apps are recognized for.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Seriously, guys. The metaverse is lifeless. We know you had been compelled to put money into Teams when the metaverse was a factor, however nobody goes to have their subsequent Teams meeting walking around a virtual room with a bunch of woodland fairies. Not that we’ve something towards woodland fairies.
Windows 11 2023 Update: WIN
After years of reasonably ho-hum annual updates, Microsoft revitalized its Windows improvement crew and issued a significant Windows 11 launch, the 2023 Update. We liked it. Unfortunately, Microsoft appears poised to return to a once-per-year replace schedule to convey us an AI-centric Windows 12, possibly in June.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Windows “updates” are more and more being disaggregated into varied apps or framework updates. On the entire, nevertheless, Windows 11 moved forward in 2023. Well, except for Backup.
Windows 10 lives on: WIN
I typically dwell on Windows 11 now, at the least by behavior. And kudos to Microsoft for at the least tolerating Windows 10. But there’s one thing darkly amusing about letting shoppers use Windows 10 previous the end-of-support date in 2025, but additionally calling it a paid subscription.
Surface Laptop Go 3/Surface Go 4: FAIL
I’ve no specific emotions, professional or con, to the Surface Laptop Go 3 (a budget laptop that, well, isn’t) or the small tablet that is the Surface Go 4. Neither felt particularly needed, and got here and went with no actual affect.
Surface Laptop Studio 2: WIN
I nonetheless assume the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a winner, partly due to the excellent audio system, pull-forward design, and creator-class {hardware}. But perhaps that’s as a result of I by no means examined HP’s Dragonfly Folio (a thinner, lighter, much less highly effective pull-forward laptop computer).
Mark Hachman / IDG
I’m an enormous fan of creator-class {hardware}, which tends to incorporate a low-end Nvidia GeForce discrete GPU or its equal, as a “mullet” PC: enterprise in entrance, partying after hours with the discrete GPU. But the added weight and thickness is completely noticeable, and the complaints about poor battery life whereas utilizing it beneath heavy workloads are legitimate. I nonetheless take into account this a victory for Microsoft because the solely creator-class product it presents (RIP, Surface Studio and Surface Book?) however my opinion is certainly much more middle-of-the street than different Microsoft merchandise.
For god’s sake, simply launch a Surface/Xbox gaming PC already, Microsoft.
Panos Panay departs for Amazon: FAIL
Panos Panay, the passionate premier of non-public computing (Editor: That’s sufficient) at Microsoft, unexpectedly left Microsoft on the eve of the Surface launch, ending up at one other Seattle-area employer, Amazon. Awkward!
Mark Hachman / IDG
While lots of the tech press beloved overlaying Microsoft, perhaps it was time for Panos to go. Microsoft doesn’t appear to have lots of further assets to revamp its Surface {hardware} and to present them the updates they deserved. The Surface Laptop all the time felt like a hybrid of a enterprise and shopper laptop computer, satisfying neither. The Surface Duo simply wasn’t good. So perhaps Surface will profit from contemporary blood. Still, it’s the tip of an period.
Microsoft Rewards being quietly nerfed: FAIL
I’m a shopper advocate by way of and thru, although, and Panos was a robust voice for the common person. So when Microsoft Rewards customers found that Microsoft was quietly lowering the methods through which customers may get factors, people went ballistic. Why? Because Rewards is the “free” way in which you can pay for Game Pass (and Amazon reward playing cards, and meals, and extra) and nobody likes free stuff being taken away.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Will Rewards return? Get phased out? You pays for a 12 months’s price of Game Pass Ultimate simply by way of a pair shifts at your native burger joint, however Rewards was nonetheless a fan favourite.
Microsoft-Activision merger: WIN
Honestly, this was most likely the dullest $69 billion deal in a very long time, even when it concerned Microsoft and a prime video games maker. Did anybody actually consider that avid gamers wouldn’t have the ability to play video games whether or not or not the deal was closed? Or that Xbox, a stable recreation console however a struggling platform, was going to crush the competitors? Not at this level.
That’s the case the FTC is making an attempt to make, whereas asking for the completed deal to be unwound. Aren’t there an entire lot of different targets to have a look at, FTC? I completely love preserving competitors, however the ship appeared to have sailed on this one way back. Why not take a look at video games as a service, and what occurs when a recreation individuals “bought” shuts down the servers?
Windows on Arm: WIN
Mark Hachman / IDG
In October, Qualcomm promised major performance gains with its Snapdragon X Elite chip, based mostly upon the Nuvia expertise it acquired. And lo and behold, it looks like it may deliver. That signifies that (gasp!) Windows on Arm could also be a critical contender in 2024 when the primary laptops start delivery…and that signifies that Windows on Arm could lastly be a critical participant.
What’s the ultimate upshot? Simply put, this: 2023 was type of nuts, and we count on 2024 to be even crazier. So take pleasure in a heat cup of vacation cheer, and we’ll see you within the New Year.