Microsoft Outlook: Stable, Trustworthy, and Reliable. Maybe Not?
April 7, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Let’s start with a quote from “How Microsoft Vaporized a Trillion Dollars.”
I have seen a lot in my decades of industry (and Microsoft) experience, but I had never seen an organization so far from reality.
Not long ago, Microsoft did a Don Quixote. The firm wanted to prevent people from using the term Microslop. A week or so ago, Microsoft made noises that it would address issues with Microsoft Windows. Before that, Microsoft made security Job Number One.
Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough. Just like Microsoft Outlook.
My wife had a news program on the little TV set kept under the kitchen counter. Guess what we heard? Here’s what caught my attention and the attention of Todd Bishop, who seems to relish his sort of friendly approach to news about the Microslop outfit:
Commander Reid Wiseman radioed Mission Control on the crew’s first day in space to report that he had two instances of Outlook running on his computer — a Microsoft Surface Pro — and neither seemed to be working.
Let’s consider this. A multi-billion dollar space launch. Live streams on a variety of media services. And what do we learn? Microsoft software is screwed up. Guess with the gentle Todd Bishop wrote:
During a press conference, Judd Frieling, the Artemis 2 ascent flight director, said the Outlook issue was not uncommon. He said the app sometimes has configuration problems when there’s no direct network connection, and the ground team resolved it by reloading Wiseman’s files in Outlook.
I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. But a company that gets publicity by having its software flagged as less than usable on a space mission to the moon has a bit of a problem. Or as the quote at the top of this essay says, “an organization so far from reality.”
I want to make three points:
- Promises and hand waving are not what one needs when software does not work as advertised on a space flight to the moon. Folks, this is not catching up on email from Starbuck’s. This is from outer space with the eyes of millions of people on the screw up.
- Microsoft obviously has a number of challenges from its legacy security woes to the craziness of its AI services. Perhaps some of that practicality expressed in “two objectives is no objective.” Microsoft is big. Too bad. Microsoft is complex. Too bad. Microsoft is trying. Not good enough, folks.
- Management cannot orchestrate success. Forget the data center baloney. Ignore the PR about agentic whatever. The leadership of the company cannot lead. They can preside over an organization that is just not working.
Net net: Vaporized is a strong word. I want to submit that having an astronaut say, “Outlook is not working” captures the reality of Microsoft. The astronauts will return from their trip around the moon. Will these fellows trust Microsoft Outlook upon their return?
Stephen E Arnold, April 7, 2026
Microsoft Saddles Up Like Don Quixot-AI
March 25, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Two stories caught my attention about America’s answer to the l’Académie française. You know that’s Microsoft, the outfit trying to eliminate the word “microslop” from global speech. Yeah, good luck with that.
Two Sloppies look at the results of their smart software efforts. Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough and you didn’t tell me my prompts violated your sense of decency. I know I produce really controversial prompts. But I feel safe knowing you are watching.
The first write up about Microslop is “Microsoft Realizes It’s Epically Screwed Up Windows 11 as Users Rage at Copilot AI Crammed Everywhere.” Obviously Futurism has decided to tow the linguistic line. The headline suggests that one of those New Coke and Bud Lite moments has arrived. A change to a beloved and absolutely wonderful product has sparked disgruntlement.
The write up reports:
Microsoft seems to have finally noticed that its house is on fire, particularly following the heavy-handed embrace of AI garnering it the widely used pejorative of “Microslop.” Unsubstantiated rumors over Windows 12 embracing AI even more triggered a massive uproar earlier this month, once again highlighting widespread disillusionment.
Microslop’s leadership team member allegedly said:
…we are reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad.
An ASCII editor without smart software. Are you kidding me? Apparently not. Futurism believes that Microslop has realized after billions of dollars and years of hoo-hah that the company’s AI craziness is the digital equivalent of the Jaguar rebranding. (Hey, will the new Jags have a Windows AI agent on board? Just a thought for Microsoft leadership.)
So this is an apparent retrenchment, mea culpa, and crawfish bundled into one PR-type comment.
But there’s more in a second article. In corporate America, someone has to take the fall for a big money failure, and it is definitely not the Big Dog of Softie leadership. No, siree.
The article “Satya Nadella Paid $650M to Recruit His AI Chief. 2 Years Later, He’s Quietly Sidelining Him — And the Numbers Behind the Move Are Brutal” says:
Microsoft [shouldn’t this have been Microslop?] CEO Satya Nadella announced a sweeping reorganization of the company’s AI leadership on March 17, unifying its consumer and enterprise Copilot teams under a single executive and quietly sidelining Mustafa Suleyman — the former DeepMind co-founder he paid $650 million to bring aboard just two years ago.
I don’t want to beat a dead strategy. However, several observations appear to be warranted:
First, how can large companies think up, plan, deploy, and then flounder in the midst of obvious customer outcry? I wish I had an answer. The fact that these missteps occur is interesting because it demonstrates that [a] awareness of what will fly and what won’t is short circuited and [b] significant time and money go down the drain before leadership takes corrective action. Remarkable.
Second, smart software in 2022 was a clever marketing stunt to put Google on its back paw. That worked. The movement from marketing to revenue did not happen. Smart software is from my point of view a utility like search and retrieval. It is a Don Quixote technology. The marketing of the attack on a windmill is okay. Trying to make marketing match up with reality is difficult and sometimes impossible. Case in point: AI in Notepad. What were the Sloppies thinking? Notepad!
Third, Microslop in my opinion is the first of the Big AI Tech (BAIT) outfits to do the good old switcheroo. Others will follow when they learn: [a] Smart software creates problems of sufficient complexity that humans can’t solve them. And [b] when the mistakes spark kinetic reactions. These will be coming because Microslop powers a number of nations’ computer systems. With AI baked in, the potential energy is going to be released and not in a controlled and planned way. There will be booms.
Finally, a reorganization makes sense for quarterly investor calls and news releases. In reality, the reorg just underscores how poorly conceived and implemented was the Microslop grand plan. How do I know? The word “microsoft” came into being for a reason.
Net net: I bet those cheap Apple Neo gizmos will sell because Microslop failed to anticipate the knock on reaction from their Copilot in Notepad thing. Notepad! Carpletland leadership deserves a bonus for these bold decisions. Sancho, saddle up.
Stephen E Arnold, March 25, 2026
Microsoft and Its Helpful Copilot
March 11, 2026
Copilot Is A Microsoft Spy
Here’s a story that doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone in the know, via Cyber News: “Microsoft Admits Copilot Reads Protected Emails, Rushes Worldwide Updates.”? ? There is a huge bug in systems that are running Copilot.? ? The glitch is that Copilot bypasses confidential labels and reads private emails.? ? This was noticed in January 2026, when Copilot’s “work tab” chat feature summarizes emails in draft and sent folders.
Here’s more of the details:
“The bug was first reported by tech news outlet Bleeping Computer, which said it had seen a service alert confirming the issue. Since the information came to light, Microsoft has reacted by fixing the issue, and a configuration update has been “deployed worldwide for enterprise customers. ‘We identified and addressed an issue where Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat could return content from emails labelled confidential authored by a user and stored within their Draft and Sent Items in Outlook desktop,’ Microsoft said in its statement to the BBC. ‘While our access controls and data protection policies remained intact, this behaviour did not meet our intended Copilot experience, which is designed to exclude protected content from Copilot access,’ they added.”
The outcomes of this bug has been noted in other issues with Copilot.? ? Here’s the summary sans AI: Microslop.
Need to say anything else?? ? Is Copilot is worse than Windows Update? Does Microsoft think I will be seduced by TV ads? Will my information hit the Softies? Nope.
Whitney Grace, March 11, 2026
Microsoft Tries Language Control: How Is the L’Académie française Doing?
March 10, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Microsoft wants to control language; specifically, the language used to describe the output from the company’s 2026 version of Clippy. In France, l’Académie française has been working hard to prevent words from becoming part of the “officially approved” language of France. For example, one can get a dirty look with a stray “le weekend” or a “Kevin.” But language is a slippery beast. I assume that Microsoft can operate in a more effective manner than France’s official authority on language purity.
Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough.
I read “Microsoft Gets Tired of Microslop, Bans the Word on Its Discord, Then Locks the Server after Backlash.” The write up explains:
Microsoft’s aggressive AI push in Windows 11 through 2025 brought upon themselves the title Microslop. Unfortunately for the company, it’s everywhere on social media, and there isn’t a way to stop the spread, unless, of course, it’s their own Discord server. Windows Latest was first to notice that the word “Microslop” was actively filtered in the official Microsoft Copilot Discord server.
Okay, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft will have to up its enforcement in order to stop allegedly free speech types who do not report to the Softies to implement more controls. Here’s a list of thought starters for the company that would be a country:
- Microsoft spelling checkers simple replace “Microslop” with a pop up that displays options but no manual input box; for example: Microsoft, superior, or brilliance
- Copilot prowls a user’s content archive on the local device and the cloud automatically replacing the offending work with Microsoft
- Microsoft’ s Windows 11 user action monitoring system watches each keystroke. If Microsoft is detected, then the Windows 11 system displays a message like “An unauthorized word has been detected. It has been replaced with the word Microsoft. A second offense will result in the machine locking the logged in user from the device.”
The cited article points out:
the company is responsible for this fallout, as they prioritized AI more than the stability of the OS that it needs to run on. Copilot, being the most visible face of that effort, has naturally become the scapegoat. So when a nickname like “Microslop” starts trending across socials, it was only a matter of time before it reached official channels as well. Windows Latest found that sending a message with the word “Microslop” inside the official Copilot Discord server immediately triggers an automated moderation response. The message does not appear publicly in the channel, and instead, only the sender sees the notice stating that the content is blocked by the server because it contains a phrase deemed inappropriate.
This means that Microsoft is thinking along the same lines as me. I know that as a dinobaby, I am hopelessly out of touch with language. Microsoft, in theory, should know better than to try to force people who are leaving Paris for a “faire le pont” on a bank holiday will probably just use the forbidden word “weekend.” But Microsoft obvious is more capable than a mere country which has been trying for hundreds of years to keep French French.
My thought is that stamping out Microslop is going to be difficult. In fact, it may be more problematic than eliminating “big back” from teen argot. But Microsoft still does Clippy type stuff. Maybe the company will be more capable than l’Académie française? Polymarket play, anyone?
Stephen E Arnold, March 10, 2026
The Branding Genius of Cowpilot: New Coke and Jaguar Are No Longer the Champs
January 6, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
We are beavering away on our new Telegram Notes series. I opened one of my newsfeeds and there is was. Another gem of a story from PCGamer. As you may know, PCGamer inspired this bit of art work from the and AI system. I thought I would have a “cow” when I saw. Here’s the visual gag again:
Is that cow standing in its output? Could that be a metaphor for “cowpilot” output? I don’t know. Qwen, like other smart software can hallucinate. Therefore, I see a semi-sacred bovine standing in a muddy hole. I do not see AI output. If you do, I am not sure you are prepared for the contents about which I shall comment; that is, the story from PCGamer called “In a Truly Galaxy-Brained Rebrand, Microsoft Office Is Now the Microsoft 365 Copilot App, but Copilot Is Also Still the Name of the AI Assistant.”
I thought New Coke was an MBA craziness winner. I thought the Jaguar rebrand was an even crazier MBA craziness winner. I thought the OpenAI smart software non mobile phone rebranding effort that looks like a 1950s dime store fountain pen was in the running for crazy. Nope. We have a a candidate for the rebranding that tops the leader board.
Microsoft Office is now the M3CA or Microsoft 365 Copilot App.
The PCGamer write up says:
Copilot is the app for launching the other apps, but it’s also a chatbot inside the apps.
Yeah, I have a few. But what else does PCGamer say in this write up?
An MBA study group discusses the branding strategy behind Cowpilot. Thanks, Qwen. Nice consistent version of the heifer.
Here’s a statement I circled:
Copilot is, notably, a thing that already exists! But as part of the ongoing effort to juice AI assistant usage numbers by making it impossible to not use AI, Microsoft has decided to just call its whole productivity software suite Copilot, I guess.
Yep, a “guess.” That guess wording suggests that Microsoft is simply addled. Why name a product that causes a person to guess? Not even Jaguar made people “guess” about a weird square car painted some jazzy semi hip color. Even the Atlanta semi-behemoth slapped “new” Coke on something that did not have that old Coke vibe. Oh, both of these efforts were notable. I even remember when the brain trust at NBC dumped the peacock for a couple of geometric shapes. But forcing people to guess? That’s special.
Here’s another statement that caught my dinobaby brain:
Should Microsoft just go ahead and rebrand Windows, the only piece of its arsenal more famous than Office, as Copilot, too? I do actually think we’re not far off from that happening. Facebook rebranded itself “Meta” when it thought the metaverse would be the next big thing, so it seems just as plausible that Microsoft could name the next version of Windows something like “Windows with Copilot” or just “Windows AI.” I expect a lot of confusion around whatever Office is called now, and plenty more people laughing at how predictably silly this all is.
I don’t agree with this statement. I don’t think “silly” captures what Microsoft is attempting to do. In my experience, Microsoft is a company that bet on the AI revolution. That turned into a cost sink hole. Then AI just became available. Suddenly Microsoft has to flog its business customers to embrace not just Azure, Teams, and PowerPoint. Microsoft has to make it so users of these services have to do Copilot.
Take your medicine, Stevie. Just like my mother’s approach to giving me cough medicine. Take your medicine or I will nag you to your grave. My mother haunting me for the rest of my life was a bummer thought. Now I have the Copilot thing. Yikes, I have to take my Copilot medicines whether I want to or not. That’s not “silly.” This is desperation. This is a threat. This is a signal that MBA think has given common sense a pink slip.
Stephen E Arnold, January 6, 2026
How Do You Get Numbers for Copilot? Microsoft Has a Good Idea
December 22, 2025
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
In past couple of days, I tested some of the latest and greatest from the big tech outfits destined to control information flow. I uploaded text to Gemini, asked it a question answered in the test, and it spit out the incorrect answer. Score one for the Googlers. Then I selected an output from ChatGPT and asked it to determine who was really innovating in a very, very narrow online market space. ChatGPT did not disappoint. It just made up a non-existent person. Okay Sam AI-Man, I think you and Microsoft need to do some engineering.
Could a TV maker charge users to uninstall a high value service like Copilot? Could Microsoft make the uninstall app available for a fee via its online software store? Could both the TV maker and Microsoft just ignore the howls of the demented few who don’t love Copilot? Yeah, I go with ignore. Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough.
And what did Microsoft do with its Copilot online service? According to Engadget, “LG quietly added an unremovable Microsoft Copilot app to TVs.” The write up reports:
Several LG smart TV owners have taken to Reddit over the past few days to complain that they suddenly have a Copilot app on the device
But Microsoft has a seductive way about its dealings. Engadget points out:
[LG TV owners] cannot uninstall it.
Let’s think about this. Most smart TVs come with highly valuable to the TV maker baloney applications. These can be uninstalled if one takes the time. I don’t watch TV very much, so I just leave the set the way it was. I routinely ignore pleas to update the software. I listen, so I don’t care if weird reminders obscure the visuals.
The Engadget article states:
LG said during the 2025 CES season that it would have a Copilot-powered AI Search in its next wave of TV models, but putting in a permanent AI fixture is sure to leave a bad taste in many customers’ mouths, particularly since Copilot hasn’t been particularly popular among people using AI assistants.
Okay, Microsoft has a vision for itself. It wants to be the AI operating system just as Google and other companies desire. Microsoft has been a bit pushy. I suppose I would come up with ideas that build “numbers” and provide fodder for the Microsoft publicity machine. If I hypothesize myself in a meeting at Microsoft (where I have been but that was years ago), I would reason this way:
- We need numbers.
- Why not pay a TV outfit to install Copilot.
- Then either pay more or provide some inducements to our TV partner to make Copilot permanent; that is, the TV owner has no choice.
The pushback for this hypothetical suggestion would be:
- How much?
- How many for sure?
- How much consumer backlash?
I further hypothesize that I would say:
- We float some trial balloon numbers and go from there.
- We focus on high end models because those people are more likely to be willing to pay for additional Microsoft services
- Who cares about consumer backlash? These are TVs and we are cloud and AI people.
Obviously my hypothetical suggestion or something similar to it took place at Microsoft. Then LG saw the light or more likely the check with some big numbers imprinted on it, and the deal was done.
The painful reality of consumer-facing services is that something like 95 percent of the consumers do not change the defaults. By making something uninstallable will not even register as a problem for most consumers.
Therefore, the logic of the LG play is rock solid. Microsoft can add the LG TVs with Copilot to its confirmed Copilot user numbers. Win.
Microsoft is not in the TV business so this is just advertising. Win
Microsoft is not a consumer product company like a TV set company. Win.
As a result, the lack of an uninstall option makes sense. If a lawyer or some other important entity complains, making Copilot something a user can remove eliminates the problem.
Love those LGs. Next up microwaves, freezers, smart lights, and possibly electric blankets. Numbers are important. Users demonstrate proof that Microsoft is on the right path.
But what about revenue from Copilot. No problem. Raise the cost of other services. Charging Outlook users per message seems like an idea worth pursuing? My hypothetical self would argue with type of toll or taxi meter approach. A per pixel charge in Paint seems plausible as well.
The reality is that I believe LG will backtrack. Does it need the grief?
Stephen E Arnold, December 22, 2025
Windows Strafed by Windows Fanboys: Incredible Flip
December 19, 2025
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
When the Windows folding phone came out, I remember hunting around for blog posts, podcasts, and videos about this interesting device. Following links I bumbled onto the Windows Central Web site. The two fellows who seemed to be front and center had a podcast (a quite irregularly published podcast I might add). I was amazed at the pro-folding gizmo. One of the write ups was panting with excitement. I thought then and think now that figuring out how to fold a screen is a laboratory exercise, not something destined to be part of my mobile phone experience.
I forgot about Windows Central and the unflagging ability to find something wonderfully bigly about the Softies. Then I followed a link to this story: “Microsoft Has a Problem: Nobody Wants to Buy or Use Its Shoddy AI Products — As Google’s AI Growth Begins to Outpace Copilot Products.”
An athlete failed at his Dos Santos II exercise. The coach, a tough love type, offers the injured gymnast a path forward with Mistral AI. Thanks, Qwen, do you phone home?
The cited write up struck me as a technology aficionado pulling off what is called a Dos Santos II. (If you are not into gymnastics, this exercise “trick” involves starting backward with a half twist into a double front in the layout position. Boom. Perfect 10. From folding phone to “shoddy AI products.”
If I were curious, I would dig into the reasons for this change in tune, instruments, and concert hall. My hunch is that a new manager replaced a person who was talking (informally, of course) to individuals who provided the information without identifying the source. Reuters, the trust outfit, does this on occasion as do other “real” journalists. I prefer to say, here are my observations or my hypotheses about Topic X. Others just do the “anonymous” and move forward in life.
Here are a couple of snips from the write up that I find notable. These are not quite at the “shoddy AI products” level, but I find them interesting.
Snippet 1:
If there’s one thing that typifies Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella‘s tenure: it’s a general inability to connect with customers. Microsoft shut down its retail arm quietly over the past few years, closed up shop on mountains of consumer products, while drifting haphazardly from tech fad to tech fad.
I like the idea that Microsoft is not sure what it is doing. Furthermore, I don’t think Microsoft every connected with its customers. Connections come from the Certified Partners, the media lap dogs fawning at Microsoft CEO antics, and brilliant statements about how many Russian programmers it takes to hack into a Windows product. (Hint: The answer is a couple if the Telegram posts I have read are semi accurate.)
Snippet 2:
With OpenAI’s business model under constant scrutiny and racking up genuinely dangerous levels of debt, it’s become a cascading problem for Microsoft to have tied up layer upon layer of its business in what might end up being something of a lame duck.
My interpretation of this comment is that Microsoft hitched its wagon to one of AI’s Cybertrucks, and the buggy isn’t able to pull the Softie’s one-horse shay. The notion of a “lame duck” is that Microsoft cannot easily extricate itself from the money, the effort, the staff, and the weird “swallow your AI medicine, you fool” approach the estimable company has adopted for Copilot.
Snippet 3:
Microsoft’s “ship it now fix it later” attitude risks giving its AI products an Internet Explorer-like reputation for poor quality, sacrificing the future to more patient, thoughtful companies who spend a little more time polishing first. Microsoft’s strategy for AI seems to revolve around offering cheaper, lower quality products at lower costs (Microsoft Teams, hi), over more expensive higher-quality options its competitors are offering. Whether or not that strategy will work for artificial intelligence, which is exorbitantly expensive to run, remains to be seen.
A less civilized editor would have dropped in the industry buzzword “crapware.” But we are stuck with “ship it now fix it later” or maybe just never. So far we have customer issues, the OpenAI technology as a lame duck, and now the lousy software criticism.
Okay, that’s enough.
The question is, “Why the Dos Santos II” at this time? I think citing the third party “Information” is a convenient technique in blog posts. Heck, Beyond Search uses this method almost exclusively except I position what I do as an abstract with critical commentary.
Let my hypothesize (no anonymous “source” is helping me out):
- Whoever at Windows Central annoyed a Softie with power created is responding to this perceived injustice
- The people at Windows Central woke up one day and heard a little voice say, “Your cheerleading is out of step with how others view Microsoft.” The folks at Windows Central listened and, thus, the Dos Santos II.
- Windows Central did what the auth9or of the article states in the article; that is, using multiple AI services each day. The Windows Central professional realized that Copilot was not as helpful writing “real” news as some of the other services.
Which of these is closer to the pin? I have no idea. Today (December 12, 2025) I used Qwen, Anthropic, ChatGPT, and Gemini. I want to tell you that these four services did not provide accurate output.
Windows Central gets a 9.0 for its flooring Microsoft exercise.
Stephen E Arnold, December 19, 2025
Microsoft Demonstrates Its Commitment to Security. Right, Copilot
December 4, 2025
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
I read on November 20, 2025, an article titled “Critics Scoff after Microsoft Warns AI Feature Can Infect Machines and Pilfer Data.” My immediate reaction was, “So what’s new?” I put the write up aside. I had to run an errand, so I grabbed the print out of this Ars Technica story in case I had to wait for the shop to hunt down my dead lawn mower.
A hacking club in Moscow celebrates Microsoft’s decision to enable agents in Windows. The group seems quite happy despite sanctions, food shortages, and the special operation. Thanks, MidJourney. Good enough.
I worked through the short write up and spotted a couple of useful (if true) factoids. It may turn out that the information in this Ars Technica write up provide insight about Microsoft’s approach to security. If I am correct, threat actors, assorted money laundering outfits, and run-of-the-mill state actors will be celebrating. If I am wrong, rest easy. Cyber security firms will have no problem blocking threats — for a small fee of course.
The write up points to what the article calls a “warning” from Microsoft on November 18, 2025. The report says:
an experimental AI agent integrated into Windows can infect devices and pilfer sensitive user data
Yep, Ars Technica then puts a cherry on top with this passage:
Microsoft introduced Copilot Actions, a new set of “experimental agentic features” that, when enabled, perform “everyday tasks like organizing files, scheduling meetings, or sending emails,” and provide “an active digital collaborator that can carry out complex tasks for you to enhance efficiency and productivity.”
But don’t worry. Users can use these Copilot actions:
if you understand the security implications.
Wow, that’s great. We know from the psycho-pop best seller Thinking Fast and Slow that more than 80 percent of people cannot figure out how much a ball costs if the total is $1.10 and the ball costs one dollar more. Also, Microsoft knows that most Windows users do not disable defaults. I think that even Microsoft knows that turning on agentic magic by default is not a great idea.
Nevertheless, this means that agents combined with large language models are sparking celebrations among the less trustworthy sectors of those who ignore laws and social behavior conventions. Agentic Windows is the new theme part for online crime.
Should you worry? I will let you decipher this statement allegedly from Microsoft. Make up your own mind, please:
“As these capabilities are introduced, AI models still face functional limitations in terms of how they behave and occasionally may hallucinate and produce unexpected outputs,” Microsoft said. “Additionally, agentic AI applications introduce novel security risks, such as cross-prompt injection (XPIA), where malicious content embedded in UI elements or documents can override agent instructions, leading to unintended actions like data exfiltration or malware installation.”
I thought this sub head in the article exuded poetic craft:
Like macros on Marvel superhero crack
The article reports:
Microsoft’s warning, one critic said, amounts to little more than a CYA (short for cover your ass), a legal maneuver that attempts to shield a party from liability. “Microsoft (like the rest of the industry) has no idea how to stop prompt injection or hallucinations, which makes it fundamentally unfit for almost anything serious,” critic Reed Mideke said. “The solution? Shift liability to the user. Just like every LLM chatbot has a ‘oh by the way, if you use this for anything important be sure to verify the answers” disclaimer, never mind that you wouldn’t need the chatbot in the first place if you knew the answer.”
Several observations are warranted:
- How about that commitment to security after SolarWinds? Yeah, I bet Microsoft forgot that.
- Microsoft is doing what is necessary to avoid the issues that arise when the Board of Directors has a macho moment and asks whoever is the Top Dog at the time, “What about the money spent on data centers and AI technology? You know, How are you going to recoup those losses?
- Microsoft is not asking its users about agentic AI. Microsoft has decided that the future of Microsoft is to make AI the next big thing. Why? Microsoft is an alpha in a world filled with lesser creatures. The answer? Google.
Net net: This Ars Technica article makes crystal clear that security is not top of mind among Softies. Hey, when’s the next party?
Stephen E Arnold, December 4, 2025
Microsoft: Desperate to Be a Leader in the Agentic OS Push Decides to Shove, Not Lure Supporters
November 26, 2025
Another short essay from a real and still-alive dinobaby. If you see an image, we used AI. The dinobaby is not an artist like Grandma Moses.
I had a friend in high school who like a girl Mary B. He smiled at her. He complimented her plaid skirt. He gave her a birthday gift during lunch in the school cafeteria. My reaction to this display was, “Yo, Tommy, you are trying too hard.” I said nothing, I watched as Mary B. focused her attention on a football player with a C average but comic book Superman looks. Tommy became known as a person who tried too hard to reach a goal without realizing no girl wanted to be the focal point of a birthday gift in the school cafeteria with hundreds of students watching. Fail, Tommy.
Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough, the gold standard today I believe.
I thought about this try-too-hard approach when I read “Windows President Addresses Current State of Windows 11 after AI Backlash.” The source is the on-again, off-again podcasting outfit called Windows Central. Here’s a snippet from the write up which recycles content from X.com. The source of the statement is a person named Pavan Davuluri, who is the Microsoft Windows lead:
The team (and I) take in a ton of feedback. We balance what we see in our product feedback systems with what we hear directly. They don’t always match, but both are important. I’ve read through the comments and see focus on things like reliability, performance, ease of use and more… we care deeply about developers. We know we have work to do on the experience, both on the everyday usability, from inconsistent dialogs to power user experiences. When we meet as a team, we discuss these pain points and others in detail, because we want developers to choose Windows.
Windows Central pointed out that Lead Davuluri demonstrated “leadership” with a bold move. He disabled comments to his X.com post about caring deeply about its customers. I like it when Lead Davuluri takes decisive leadership actions that prevent people from providing inputs. Is that why Microsoft ignored focus groups responding to Wi-Fi hardware that did not work and “ribbon” icons instead of words in Office application interfaces? I think I have possibly identified a trend at Microsoft: The aircraft carrier is steaming forward, and it is too bad about the dolphins, fishing boats, and scuba divers. I mean who cares about these unseen flotsam and jetsam.
Remarkably Windows Central’s write up includes another hint of negativism about Microsoft Windows:
What hasn’t helped in recent years is “Continuous Innovation,” Microsoft’s update delivery strategy that’s designed to keep the OS fresh with new features and changes on a consistent, monthly basis. On paper, it sounds like a good idea, but in practice, updating Windows monthly with new features often causes more headaches than joy for a lot of people. I think most users would prefer one big update at a predictable, certain time of the year, just like how Apple and Google do it.
Several observations if I may offer them as an aged dinobaby:
- Google has said it wants to become the agentic operating system. That means Google wants to kill off Microsoft, its applications, and its dreams.
- Microsoft knows that it faces competition from a person whom Satya Nadella knows, understands, absolutely must defeat because his family would make fun of him if he failed. Yep, a man-to-man dust up with annoying users trying to stop the march of technological innovation and revenue. Lead Davuluri has his marching orders; hence, the pablum tinged non-speak cited in the Windows Central write up.
- User needs and government regulation have zero — that’s right, none, nil, zip — chance of altering what these BAIT (big AI tech) outfits will do to win. Buckle up, Tommy. You are going to be rejected again.
Net net: That phrase agentic OS has a ring to it, doesn’t it?
Stephen E Arnold, November 26, 2025
Microsoft Factoid: 30 Percent of Our Code Is Vibey
November 24, 2025
Another short essay from a real and still-alive dinobaby. If you see an image, we used AI. The dinobaby is not an artist like Grandma Moses.
Is Microsoft cranking out one fifth to one third of its code using vibey methods? A write up from Ibrahim Diallo seeks to answer this question in his essay “Is 30% of Microsoft’s Code Really AI-Generated?” My instinctive response was, “Nope. Marketing.” Microsoft feels the heat. The Google is pushing the message that it will deliver the Agentic Operating System for the emergence of a new computing epoch. In response, Microsoft has been pumping juice into its market collateral. For example, Microsoft is building data center systems that span nations. Copilot will make your Notepad “experience” more memorable. Visio, a step child application, is really cheap. Add these steps together, and you get a profile of a very large company under pressure and showing signs of cracking. Why? Google is turning up the heat and Microsoft feels it.
Mr. Diallo writes:
A few months back, news outlets were buzzing with reports that Satya Nadella claimed 30% of the code in Microsoft’s repositories was AI-generated. This fueled the hype around tools like Copilot and Cursor. The implication seemed clear: if Microsoft’s developers were now “vibe coding,” everyone should embrace the method.
Then he makes a pragmatic observation:
The line between “AI-generated” and “human-written” code has become blurrier than the headlines suggest. And maybe that’s the point. When AI becomes just another tool in the development workflow, like syntax highlighting or auto-complete, measuring its contribution as a simple percentage might not be meaningful at all.
Several observations:
- Microsoft’s leadership is outputting difficult to believe statements
- Microsoft apparently has been recycling code because those contributions from Stack Overflow are not tabulated
- Marketing is now the engine making AI the future of Microsoft unfold.
I would assert that the answer to the Mr. Diallo’s question is, “Whatever unfounded assertion Microsoft offers is actual factual.” That’s okay with me, but some people may be hooked by Google’s Agentic Operating System pitch.
Stephen E Arnold, November 24, 2025
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