What Did You Tay, Bob? Clippy Did What!

July 21, 2025

Dino 5 18 25This blog post is the work of an authentic dinobaby. Sorry. No smart software can help this reptilian thinker.

I was delighted to read “OpenAI Is Eating Microsoft’s Lunch.” I don’t care who or what wins the great AI war. So many dollars have been bet that hallucinating software is the next big thing. Most content flowing through my dinobaby information system is political. I think this food story is a refreshing change.

So what’s for lunch? The write up seems to suggest that Sam AI-Man has not only snagged a morsel from the Softies’ lunch pail but Sam AI-Man might be prepared to snap at those delicate lady fingers too. The write up says:

ChatGPT has managed to rack up about 10 times the downloads that Microsoft’s Copilot has received.

Are these data rock solid? Probably not, but the idea that two “partners” who forced Googzilla to spasm each time its Code Red lights flashed are not cooperating is fascinating. The write up points out that when Microsoft and OpenAI were deeply in love, Microsoft had the jump on the smart software contenders. The article adds:

Despite that [early lead], Copilot sits in fourth place when it comes to total installations. It trails not only ChatGPT, but Gemini and Deepseek.

Shades of Windows phone. Another next big thing muffed by the bunnies in Redmond. How could an innovation power house like Microsoft fail in the flaming maelstrom of burning cash that is AI? Microsoft’s long history of innovation adds a turbo boost to its AI initiatives. The Bob, Clippy, and Tay inspired Copilot is available to billions of Microsoft Windows users. It is … everywhere.

The write up explains the problem this way:

Copilot’s lagging popularity is a result of mismanagement on the part of Microsoft.

This is an amazing insight, isn’t it? Here’s the stunning wrap up to the article:

It seems no matter what, Microsoft just cannot make people love its products. Perhaps it could try making better ones and see how that goes.

To be blunt, the problem at Microsoft is evident in many organizations. For example, we could ask IBM Watson what Microsoft should do. We could fire up Deepseek and get some China-inspired insight. We could do a Google search. No, scratch that. We could do a Yandex.ru search and ask, “Microsoft AI strategy repair.”

I have a more obvious dinobaby suggestion, “Make Microsoft smaller.” And play well with others. Silly ideas I know.

Stephen E Arnold, July 21, 2025

Comments

Got something to say?





  • Archives

  • Recent Posts

  • Meta