As Windows Turns 40, Microsoft Faces an AI Backlash (theverge.com)
- Reference: 0180156385
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/11/20/1852230/as-windows-turns-40-microsoft-faces-an-ai-backlash
- Source link: https://www.theverge.com/tech/825022/microsoft-windows-40-year-anniversary-agentic-os-future
"It's evolving into a product that's driving people to Mac and Linux," one person wrote, while another asked for a return to Windows 7's "clean UI, clean icon, a unified control panel, no bloat apps, no ads, just a pure performant OS." Davuluri later responded to software engineer Gergely Orosz, saying "we care deeply about developers" and acknowledging Microsoft has "work to do on the experience, both on the everyday usability, from inconsistent dialogs to power user experiences."
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the Dwarkesh Podcast that the company's business "which today is an end user tools business, will become, essentially an infrastructure business in support of agents doing work." The Recall feature already spooked users when it was initially turned on by default before Microsoft reworked it to be opt-in. Navjot Virk, corporate vice president of Windows experiences, told The Verge that "every user can use [AI agents] when they're ready. It's their choice, they decide."
[1] https://www.theverge.com/tech/825022/microsoft-windows-40-year-anniversary-agentic-os-future
Windows today (Score:1)
I can take a Microsoft branded laptop ouf the box and it'll spend two days crashing and installing updates. You can't do that with Linux/MacOS
Re: (Score:2)
Whatever one might think about Microsoft and it's AI push, your experience is not typical. I've set up numerous Microsoft laptops and desktops. Most work correctly out of the box. Some need updates, but when they do, it's usually a few minutes, not a few days. Blue/black screens of death are very rare these days.
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I just set one up for my mother-in-law. Setup worked great until Windows Update couldn't install an update and couldn't not install an update, so I had to reinstall Windows to fix it. Then I copied over all the old files and went to back it up with Clonezilla and discovered that Microsoft had turned on disk encryption by default so now I have to figure out how to turn that off because I don't want her to lose all her data at some point in the future when something breaks and expect me to figure out a way to
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Actually, getting Linux to crash is very easy. Just do some stupid things like telling the kernel it has more memory than there is. On the plus-side, even Linux _crashes_ will be reliable, while MS cannot even do that.
In my experience (Score:3)
LLMs are not good at self-management or judgement-call making. Allowing them to be "agents" and do things on your behalf is problematic because they can get things wrong and then make things worse when they try to fix it. They are much worse about this than human agents.
In my experience so far LLMs can generate code that "looks right", but doesn't necessarily work right. The more details there are in the requirements, the worse the LLM does. And in my experience implementing business workflow pipelines using LLMs, the LLMs are pretty good at interpreting plain English requests and translating them to something machine-parseable (like JSON or whatever), so you can then write your own code that reliably takes action, using the LLM just as a bridge between the two. But the more you ask the LLM to solve problems itself, make decisions itself, or take actions itself, the more it lets you down.
So, I think that AI just isn't ready for what Microsoft plans to use it for. And it seems like many others agree.
Great (Score:2)
"which today is an end user tools business, will become, essentially an infrastructure business in support of agents doing work."
It sure sounds like he's saying he doesn't want the desktop anymore. I think everyone should help them with that and drop Windows today.
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> --
> I forget what 8 was for.
It was supposed to make Windows universal on personal computers, tablets, and smartphones. One interface for all three. Apps that ran on all three. Normalize an app store that set guardrails up on what you did on your computer, and brought Microsoft revenue just like the iOS App Store does Apple.
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That sig quote is a line from [1]a song [youtube.com].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__jh3S9DzYU
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> Normalize an app store that set guardrails up on what you did on your computer, and brought Microsoft revenue just like the iOS App Store does Apple.
I bought a new Windows 11 laptop for my kid and it came locked in "S Mode" and would only install software from Microsoft. I had to jump through flaming hoops to get it turned off. How do they get away with that?
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Devices like that normally advertise (or at least mention it) on the product page. It's supposed to be a security feature.
I don't have any personal experience owning a Windows S device, but I feel like I've looked at it before and simply trying to open a command prompt triggers a message about it and steers you to a setting to disable the S mode, with lots of scary language added about how if you do there is no way to put it back.
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Sending all your files to Microsoft is now supposed to be a security feature.
"Security" is now a codeword for "we're going to steal all your shit for your own good, and you will pay us for it."
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Translation: "you will own nothing, and rent everything, including continued access to your own work".
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Not really. They likely are going to turn windows into an app that doesn't work without an internet connection and charge a subscription fee for its use. Existing control of the desktop givens them a way to capture customers and make it very difficult for them to switch to a competitor. You don't want a desktop that can compete with your main business of selling support agents
We need a windows replacement (Score:2)
We need a new os that'll run windows apps without Microsoft deciding how everyone of must work.
No fucking libraries or default bullshit. Bring back a plain, old file sysyem.
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> We need a new os that'll run windows apps without Microsoft deciding how everyone of must work.
Rather tall order, that. ReactOS is trying. And wine & Proton run a lot of stuff.
> No fucking libraries
That's a big part of the problem -- a lot of what makes Windows apps work isn't in the kernel, it's all the system libraries with their decades of cruft and backward compatibility that have to be re-implemented in clean-room fashion to avoid infringing MS's copyright.
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I get your frustration, but I'm having trouble following your proposal.
If you're on Windows, Windows (Microsoft) decides how everything works.
If you're on Mac, Apple decides how everything works.
If you're on Linux, the Linux OS decides how everything works.
What is a plain-old file system, exactly?
M$ -- AI Security nightmare (Score:2)
And while Microsoft is at it - how about they quit making security nightmares of THEIR "AI".... That's why it SUCKS! There is little to NO security around ANYONE's AI.
[1]https://www.windowslatest.com/... [windowslatest.com]
[2]https://arstechnica.com/securi... [arstechnica.com]
[1] https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/11/18/windows-11-to-add-an-ai-agent-that-runs-in-background-with-access-to-personal-folders-warns-of-security-risk/
[2] https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/11/critics-scoff-after-microsoft-warns-ai-feature-can-infect-machines-and-pilfer-data/
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Now remember that the IRS is on ( or will eventually be on) Windows 11.
Your tax records for the world to see!
Maybe if they would test products (Score:2)
and have a standard instead of making users test them, they would get less hate.
They want Microsoft to leave them alone (Score:2)
All they want is Microsoft to leave them alone and let them get professional work done.
All the clamoring for 7 is just that. Give us a clean working os free of cruft.
Microsofts answer, you just need more cruft. Oh and do it while saying DEVELOPERS!
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Windows 2000 (workstation and server) was the best version that I worked with. Anything after that was only downhill and even 2000 had plenty to complain of.
A completely blank desktop (currently openbox on Devuan) is the only one that I like. Give me a bare-bones OS with network connection and everything else as opt-in.
Right... (Score:2)
> The Recall feature already spooked users when it was initially turned on by default before Microsoft reworked it to be opt-in. Navjot Virk, corporate vice president of Windows experiences, told The Verge that "every user can use [AI agents] when they're ready. It's their choice, they decide."
That's what apple said about theirs, then Tim Cook and ArchieBunker became furious after learning that nobody wanted it, so they made it opt-out.
Recall This (Score:2)
I'm a developer with 4x years of experience. Windows has been my desktop operating system since DOS 3.0 days, and have no desire to move off of Windows 10. I didn't, that is, until now. There's no way I'm letting Windows 11 into my personal life, so I got the free 1-year security extension, I'll buy another if I can, and then, if that AI Recall spyware is still on Windows, I'm leaving. Probably to Linux.
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I abandoned MS_Windows when XP was released, I dual booted with Win2k for a while, then eventually pure straight Linux 100%, I did not do a lot of distro hopping but I tried a few, not as many distros back then as their is now, I eventually settled on Slackware
If / when MS agents do work... (Score:2)
... it will be stuff nobody wants them to do. LLMs are seriously incapable of delivering secure and reliable agent functionality at this time and for many years to come. Maybe we can revisit that idea in 10 or 20 years. But now? Pure madness.
Re: If / when MS agents do work... (Score:2)
Sure. But even if the agent can do things you would want it to, the problem starts in giving unambiguous specifications... which most people are incapable of. I've never had a client that could articulately describe what they wanted*, no matter their education level. In fact interviewing experts might be harder because they often use rules of thumb or other non obvious intuition which can be even harder to pry out of someone, because they might not even know themselves why the rule works. Ironic, really.
Thi
They'll double down that will be the end (Score:2)
Dead company walking.
Paywalled (Score:2)
Paywalled article, go here to read it: [1]https://archive.is/4qzDM [archive.is]
[1] https://archive.is/4qzDM
Needs a new name (Score:2)
> Satya Nadella told the Dwarkesh Podcast that the company's business "which today is an end user tools business, will become, essentially an infrastructure business in support of agents doing work."
Microsoft keeps providing less and less satisfaction to its users. Soon it will provide nothing that pleases them, so I think its CEO should be renamed Satya el Nada. That's only a one-letter difference in total, but it's so much more fittingly descriptive.
Windows transfered my bankaccount to Nadella (Score:2)
Because it determined by itself that there was high probability that Nadella needed more money than I did.
Be careful as you sign all your rights away in the M$ EULA.
That's not quite correct (Score:2)
> "It's evolving into a product that's driving people to Mac and Linux," one person wrote
I'd say that Windows has largely evolved into a service, not a product. It seems the end game is for Windows to be mere terminal software which won't allow your computer to do much of anything if it's not connected to MS servers. Everything old is new again...
They have a monopoly (Score:1, Insightful)
So the backlash is basically irrelevant. Even if valve can get some Linux hardware into people's hands the majority of operating system purchases for computer desktop and laptop hardware or for corporations and business and Linux does not have anything approaching active directory.
So they can ignore any complaints. Because realistically the average user can't do anything about it..
Meanwhile AI has the potential to replace hundreds of billions if not trillions of worth of wage labor. Remember AI is n
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> -- www.fark.com/politics
uh, rsilvergun, you left your signature in the Anonymous Coward post. We know it's you.
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..WOW...
Someone woke up on the dystopian side of the bed this morning.....
Literally Hunger Games (Score:2)
Yes, that is the obvious goal. Mr. Whipple didn't learn shit.