Microsoft really wants to talk about Copilot

Microsoft announced two new Surface devices and a slew of new accessories at a virtual event today, but the first part of the presentation focused precisely on how its AI Copilot is becoming more deeply integrated into Windows. For the most part, however, this was a hardware event with some enterprise software implementation. But that’s the way it is at Microsoft now: Everything has to have a Copilot angle — even the simplest hardware events.

The real Copilot story that Microsoft told here — at length — was largely a rehash of previously announced updates, customer testimonials, and a lot of chatter about how Copilot will make employees happier and more productive by summarizing missed meetings and documents that you did not watch to read.

“Windows 11 and Windows 365 promise a new era of AI productivity,” said Melissa Grant, Microsoft’s senior director for Windows Enterprise. “Our goal is to empower employees to work more efficiently and creatively and make the most of their productive time.”

How exactly is Microsoft going to do this? Adding a toggle to the Copilot experience in Windows 11 that lets users switch between “Work” and “Web” now. The Work button brings Copilot’s Microsoft 365 capabilities — and the internal company data it’s powered by — to the Windows interface. That’s because the first part of Microsoft’s strategy for Copilot is to get it into the hands of as many people as possible. Windows, after all, is meant to “deliver technology that puts you on a path to becoming an AI-centric organization,” Grant said.

Microsoft is also betting on cloud computing delivered through Windows 365 as a surface for Copilot. The application for accessing these cloud computers (as well as Azure Virtual Desktop and Remote Desktop) is the appropriate Windows application. Microsoft says that usage of the Windows app has now reached 3 million active hours since it entered preview at Microsoft Ignite 2023 in November. It’s a big number, but it would only take about 3,000 or 4,000 users working full-time on cloud computing during their business days to reach that since it was launched. Microsoft cites Vodafone and Zurich Insurance Group as early adopters.

Microsoft also emphasized that Copilot can now perform some basic IT functions directly from the chat (or at least open the right settings window for you) — something it already announced weeks ago. And those Windows 365 cloud computers? They can now be resized.

And that’s pretty much it. Please click this Copilot button to register.