Microsoft may replace the Start button with the Copilot AI in Windows 12

I’ve often wondered what new and innovative ways Microsoft could find to make my computer even less likely to do what I want.

This might just be the push I need to switch to Linux desktop.

Microsoft may replace the Start button with the Copilot AI in Windows 12

Yeah, they could also replace the start button with a shit emoji. But there's no indication at all anybody wants to do any of that because they're not idiots. You only said that so people visit your shitty website. In fact, not even the quote you reference for your article suggests any plans of replacing the start button whatsoever:

“The Copilot is like the Start button,” Nadella explains. “It becomes the orchestrator of all your app experiences. So for example, I just go there and express my intent and it either navigates me to an application or it brings the application to the Copilot, so it helps me learn, query and create — and completely changes, I think, the user habits.”

Fuck clickbait headlines and fuck websites bending any and all content to the SEO voodoo.

Well in that case I might replace windows 12 with not using windows 12

Nope

I love this idea. The reason people continue using Windows is because they're used to it. Messing with the Start button is going to piss off even the most patient users. Not to mention it'll be an absolute nightmare for any IT department. Just imagine an army of Karens calling your hotline first thing on Monday morning, yelling at you because you took away the Start button. It'll make Windows 8 look like a huge success.

So now I can use an AI to find notepad++ on bing?

Is this like the previous theory that Windows 12 would be subscription based?

“The Copilot is like the Start button,” Nadella explains. “It becomes the orchestrator of all your app experiences. So for example, I just go there and express my intent and it either navigates me to an application or it brings the application to the Copilot, so it helps me learn, query and create — and completely changes, I think, the user habits.”

Saying "copilot is like the start button" is not saying "copilot will replace the start button", the article is dishonest clickbait and stupid.

This is just MS taking another kick at Cortana, this time powered by LLM generative AI.

Come, yer tired souls, to the Kingdom of Torvalds.

I only have one machine that's still running Windows. This would convince me to finally make that zero.

I too, think the Windows start menu is way too responsive and not buggy enough. /s

pretend that you're my late grandma, whom I miss a lot. her favourite pastime at this time of the day was deleting the C:/system32 directory.

Windows 10 is my last windows. When i upgrade my destop i'm going Mint

Hope I can ride the 10 wave as long as I rode XP.

All the "X company may/could/might" and "X plans on this" news feel like they're just feeling for a reaction from the public to see what they can and can't get away with. If it gets too much push back, they just put it on the shelf and boil the frogs for longer before trying again, like with Google and WEI. It's tiring. Stop being evil you corpo fucks.

Every day we stray closer to Linux.

Ahhhh finally time to give Linux a try

Microsoft why are you trying to pull an Elon and destroy your own brand, stop that -- what, after all, has a dedicated keyboard key on Windows keyboards, and has for decades?

This could be fine if it didn't immediately send all of your data to the internet.

But as is, fuck that and fuck you Microsoft.

Windows told me I don't have permission to do something. On my computer. As an administrator. Using the command line.

Fuck Windows, fuck Microsoft and their controlling asses, and fuck co-pilot and Open AI for contributing to artificial intelligence not only being closed source and proprietary, but encouraging the United States government to make it literally illegal to do it on the open source field as well.

And I've been slowly replacing windows with Linux since the arrival of Windows 10.

“….So for example, I just go there and express my intent and it either navigates me to an application or it brings the application to the Copilot”

What does that mean to me, if I just want to open notepad? How to I express my intent, exactly? Through interpretive dance?

This type of information, encourages me to move quickly to a linux distro of choice.

How many times has Windows tried to kill off the start menu!? I can think of at least three:

• Windows 8
• Windows 10's funky live tiles thing (by default).
• This strange Windows 12 AI junk

"It seems you wanted to start an application, let me guess which one you want instead of just letting you proceed with that"

This is FUD. AI integration is a given, but I doubt they would outright axe the start button unless they plan to fundamentally change the Windows UX design language.

If they do, expect it to go the way of Windows 8.0 real fast.

“Replace the start button”

Because that went well a couple of times lol

“The Copilot is like the Start button,” Nadella explains. “It becomes the orchestrator of all your app experiences. So for example, I just go there and express my intent and it either navigates me to an application or it brings the application to the Copilot, so it helps me learn, query and create — and completely changes, I think, the user habits.”

I like to put down M$ when I can, but I don't think replacing the start button is the exact plan here. I think he's just using it as a comparison.

Meanwhile in the category of "useless bullshit nobody asked for" we have Microsoft. Again.

They won't. They do however want to stay relevant and will float things like this just to create talk about Microsoft and Windows.

You know what's really interesting to talk about? How fast it was for me to setup Chimeraos on a PC with an Intel GPU and hook it up to my tv and Xbox wireless controller USB dongle.... First boot and I login to Steam and BAM! Grab that controller. Time for couch gaming

Windows is nowhere near that good or easy as a game station for coach gaming.

I am this close to go all linux, Microsoft. don't tempt me. only thing that make use windows is gaming and that too is slipping away because of steam

I might replace Microsoft with Linux in Windows 12

Only thing I use Start button for is to turn off the PC. The search is unusable and all shortcuts are in my task bar anyways.

Time to experiment with Linux again. Still haven't settled on a distro that I liked 100%.

Well fuck that

Microsoft may replace windows 11 with Linux in my computer

Luckily steam deck has been teaching me how to utilise Linux. Then due to streaming garbage I've started using jellyfin and have ordered a micro PC to host it, which will have Linux installed for additional practice. My windows days are numbered.

Breaking news: I'ma replace windows with any version of Linux in 12 months

Building this into the OS is clearly unnecessary, there's obviously another motive here...sweet user behavior data?

Way to increase usage of Linux, good job Microsoft

I'm here for it as a snobby Linux user. Let's see how much the average windows user is willing to let their experience be degraded before they finally tap out and try an operating system that isn't pure trash

Idc, I'm on Linux now. I'd rather buy a Mac than install Windows again at this point (if I ever need to use software that's Windows/Mac only)

They fuckin' do that and I'm out. Haven't run Linux on the desktop since 2009, but it wasn't bad back then and I assume it's only gotten better. Meanwhile Microsoft has continued the enshittification of Windows and if I didn't need it for dev purposes, I'd be more willing to pull the plug. All this "AI" stuff Microsoft keeps adding to everything is going to push me over the edge.

No thank you. Startallisback to the rescue. Ghost spectre to remove whatever bullshit they put in this time.

I'm not against progress, I just prefer my computer to leave the thinking to me.

I don't want to go back to Windows 8. Those were... dark times...

Can someone just start making community updates for windows 7 and we can just use that when Unix is not a viable option

Windows 12 is already a failure and it hasn't even been formally announced yet. Congrats Microsoft! You've successfully failed for the second time in a row to deliver a windows version that most users actually like even to the slightest bit.

I guess the actual YOTLD will finally arrive after 20 years.

Oh boy. That thing is the steering wheel of the Windows system.

Everyday I'm happier and happier I have migrated away from Windows.

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The biggest pain point of windows 8 (on release) was the missing start button, why would they think a bingilator would work instead?

Don't worry I am sure they will fix all this madness for Windows 9.

My work have only just caught up to windows 10.

From "Windows 10 will be the last windows" to this.

I though this was a 1th of April joke untill I realized we're in November

Okay. If 12 is coming out why would anyone go with 11?

I may replace Windows as my daily driver with Linux.

Only if they promise to remove the most pointless keyboard button in the world as well.

This is the worst timeline.

Lmfao! They think I'm going to buy another windows OS?

I still remeber installing a third-party start menu on Windows 8 because fuck the Metro.

Define "may"? This is like writing, car manufacturers may replace tires with triangles.

W8 vibes.

Up next, windows 13 is cloud-based only, thus requiring constant internet connection

Nope

The Copilot is like the Start button,” Nadella explains. “It becomes the orchestrator of all your app experiences. So for example, I just go there and express my intent and it either navigates me to an application or it brings the application to the Copilot, so it helps me learn, query and create — and completely changes, I think, the user habits.”

So it’s like search on iOS. Not always what I want but if it makes windows search useful then maybe it won’t be so bad.

All I care about with the start button is the search function. If this didn't fuck with that, sure.

I just want my operating system:

1. To have a logical settings layout, perform well, be stable

2. Be fully and easily compatible with most mainstream programs and games without having to screw around too much.

Give me back windows 7, add dx12 support, update the back end with any kernel and scheduler updates, call it windows gamer edition. Then fuck off out of my life Microsoft.

Nobody wants to “use an operating system” we want to run programs and do it efficiently, i feel the vast majority of changes Microsoft has made since windows 7 ended has been to the detriment of that.

I can only hope that now with Vulcan becoming more popular and the rise of steam os on the steam deck that we will start to see native Linux aaa games being a thing.

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I see lots of love for Linux in the comments which is awesome, but is there anyone considering making a hackintosh out of their machine? Is that a good route to go these days?

And what if I don't agree to their privacy policy? Are they really handing over that crucial part of windows to 3rd parties if we don't want our habits tracked?

Kill it with fire!

Wow. I was just taking a break from an ethics assignment whether Copilot is ethical to use while developing code, and then I see this post.

I believe Copilot is mostly ethical to use in development, as a tool. This is just Microsoft trying to force Copilot into a place where it wasn't meant to be and will lead to so much wasted electricity.

It's like taking the MVP in Baseball and forcing him to play Tennis and expecting good results against Tennis pros. Stop shoehorning good AI tools into the wrong places that are better equipped using different tools.

So glad I'm using Linux for my gaming needs.

Edit: typed the below is a response to someone else's comment, but I thought it would also be good for me to say in here, to elaborate on my initial comment.

--

Fedora/KDE, Steam, Bottles.

Fedora for the quality support and stability of your Linux distro, Steam for, well, Steam, and Bottles for non-Steam games, that still lets you launch those games from inside Steam.

Gross

Ugh. I really, really don't want an Apple. And I've got stuff that simply will not run in Linux. (Would very much like to switch fully over to Linux again...)

SkyNet OS v1.2

Seems like there's a need for someone to create tools that strip the latest windows release down to a minimal install, convert all of the smart features back into db menus, standardize the locations of options, and give you opt-in features instead of opt-out.

Install Linux, get rid of microshit crap

Good luck, because last time they tried to replace the Start menu with a new UI went so well..

Good riddance, Windows.

Microsoft: Not enough people are using our snazzy AI we spent a lot of time and money developing. Whatever should we do?
Also Microsoft: Force the users to use it!

is this an out of season April fools joke?

The more of a PITA windows is, the more willing I, and everyone, will be to deal with Linux. Lol.

Yikes!!

What's next, Android like Launcher? And screw you for trying to open loose files! >! /s !<

They've never had any respect for their users intelligence. Microsoft and Adobe both. They are absolutely convinced people are too stupid to figure things out without multiple popup boxes that require confirmation to close. They will build windows with the stupidest human being alive in mind and drive away users that don't have the patience to be talked down to every moment.

Rip windows, another victim of AI

And with that, I'm out

This whole "the customers want what we tell them to" attitude has really taken off, hasn't it?

When I have to use windows, I mostly use an application called to open Apps. So I really don't miss the start button much.

BSD is the way

Couldn't you trivially differentiate local files from a query like if you type f..i..r it's probably firefox if you type something that isn't a recent document name or the name of an app its a query?

DEATH TO ABOMINABLE INTELLIGENCE!

Ahh yes the beginning to Window's end.

Sure I'll try it. If it improves my workflows I'll use it

I mean... fuck that noise.

But also? That is actually a really good idea. The start menu was always fundamentally flawed and it took the bullshit that was windows 7 (?) to make me realize that. Clicking and navigating through nested menus and trying to guess whether a piece of software was listed by company, the app name, or something else was always a mess. Which is why winkey "dawn of war" was the optimal solution.

And as third party app stores (e.g. Steam) may or may not even bother to make a start menu entry to begin with? Having something that can search your computer AND distinguish between "the document that lists what primes I need to farm" and "the Warframe game itself" is a really good idea.

But yeah... I do not want "AI" based shit in an OS that is known to have a crapton of telemetry that gets toggled back on every time it silently runs an update.

This sounds great, I hope they do it!

Is this trolling?