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AI Operating Systems Windows Build

Copilot Pane As Annoying As Clippy May Pop Up In Windows 11 (theregister.com) 43

Richard Speed reports via The Register: Copilot in Windows is set to get even more assertive after Microsoft added a function that makes the AI assistant's window pop up after a user's cursor hovers over the icon in the task bar. [...] Windows Insiders on the Beta Channel â" with the option to get the latest updates turned on â" will soon find themselves on the receiving end of what Microsoft calls "a new hover experience for Copilot in Windows" from build 22635.3276.

If your mouse cursor happens to drift over to the Copilot icon on the taskbar, the Copilot pane will open to make users aware of the delights on offer. The result, we suspect, will be to educate users in the art of switching off the function. Much like Widgets, which will also make its unwanted presence felt should a user move a mouse over its icon. A swift hop into taskbar settings is all it takes to make the icons disappear, for now at least. The new feature is being piloted but considering the proximity of the Beta Channel to Release Preview, there is every chance the pop-up will, er, pop up in a release version of Windows before long.

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Copilot Pane As Annoying As Clippy May Pop Up In Windows 11

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  • by dunkelfalke ( 91624 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:24PM (#64292770)

    what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exactsame fucking thing over and over again expecting shit to change.

    • by KiloByte ( 825081 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:51PM (#64292840)

      Microsoft is unfixable, because income of their project managers depends on doing that very thing. Thus, for us that "exact same fucking thing over and over" is: using Windows, in any form whatsoever. Or Azure. Or Office 359. But, ordinary users simply don't know better. Thus, it's on us to educate them.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        I agree that MS is unfixable. They have been incompetently bumbling about the last 45 years and they seem fundamentally incapable of learning. Trouble is, the requirements are getting far, far higher. I mean, 2023 MS hat a full (!) compromise of all its Azure and o365 cloud for all users, including government ones. And they had that because they messed up _everything_ they could mess up without it being immediately obvious. That is like Boeing not only forgetting to bolt in a door, that is like installing t

        • I agree that MS is unfixable. They have been incompetently bumbling about the last 45 years

          Microsoft is currently the most valuable company in the world by market cap. Incompetently bumbling indeed!

          • by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Sure. As if wealth of a company ever was an indicator of product quality. Lets get Azure and o365 completely hacked once again, this time by an attacker that wants and knows how to do damage. That market cap will go negative within a few weeks and much of the planet will go into a recession. Great prospects!

            • Microsoft has so far cost us more than a decade of progress in computing, cost the economy many trillions of dollars and countless man-years of work. Getting them off the planet would be a massive benefit for the planet, not a recession: after a brief setback when people would need to migrate all at once, we'd be free from the worst obstacle.

              It's not that there's a lack of bad quality software elsewhere: just think of all the node.php frameworks, but since a significant portion of people are willing to sha

            • That market cap will go negative

              How does a market cap go negative? Get a life and stop dreaming about the end of companies you hate!

    • by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:58PM (#64292854)

      That's not necessarily insanity, it could also be described as the overton window shuffle.
      If at first you don't succeed, just wait until the furor dies down, then try again. eventually your victims will become demoralized and apathetic.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      True. The problem is that for MS this works, because too many users just take it in the gut and smile. Otherwise MS would have been bankrupt a decade ago or longer. Users not asking for quality and accepting the most inane "features" and defend being treated like crap are the key reason why MS stays in business. Essentially happy slaves cheering at being mistreated. There is some massive Stockholm Syndrome going on with way too many MS users.

  • by Rockoon ( 1252108 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:24PM (#64292772)
    "It appears like you are browsing the web. Would you like to re-open your pages in the recommended browser?"

    "It appears like you are playing a game. Sorry for minimizing it. Would you like to learn about screen recording?"
    • Re:It appears like (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dddux ( 3656447 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:48PM (#64292834)

      Yes, Microsoft is again trying to teach users what's best to use, safer, more productive to use... :) Playing nanny. This is the stuff that drew me away to Linux more than a decade ago. Just couldn't stand using an OS that tries too hard to make you do things their way, not your way. It's been going on since Win 7, even XP.

      Of course they're going to use Windows to train their AI. What did anyone expect? And they'll succeed, because not many Windows users have enough knowledge to disable things in their OS. Big majority are just users who can barely use a mouse, a browser and Office apps. I keep seeing people who don't know where they saved a file they're working on... It's the result of dumbing down users by an OS like that and constantly changing things.

      The way I use Linux has been 100% the same since I started using it. Even changing the distro or desktop environment doesn't matter much.

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      Copilot: It appears you are annoyed with me. How may I help you?

      User: I hate you. Go away.

      C: Bbbb...bbb...you will miss out on all the wonders I have to offer.

      User: Don't care, be gone foul creature of Beelzebub.

      C: Oh, so that's how you want to be, eh? Check your back account soon so you can keep up with, which to me, are minor adjustments.

      User: Touch my bank account and I'll sue MS!!

      C: Ooopsy, too late. Keep on the look out for the 100 pizzas I have ordered for you. Also, check in with your local police, I

    • "It appears like you are attempting to install Linux. Do you really want to do that?"
  • by PPH ( 736903 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:33PM (#64292794)

    ... co-pilots [youtube.com].

  • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:36PM (#64292806)

    I demand you shoot me now [youtube.com]!

  • by systemd-anonymousd ( 6652324 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:39PM (#64292814)

    At least Clippy didn't call you racist or steal your data. And you could turn him into a cute cat or dog, which my mom did on her Word.

  • by PhrostyMcByte ( 589271 ) <phrosty@gmail.com> on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:42PM (#64292818) Homepage

    Edge Mobile will randomly pop up a Copilot prompt window over its navigation controls. You can't go back or navigate away without first clicking on Copilot, letting it open up its full-screen prompt that begins a chat, and then closing it.

    In the past couple years, the Windows/Edge team has slipped into crazy with awful dark patterns and profit-driven features nobody asked for.

    It's like you can see Azure, Office, and Xbox are printing money with predictable recurring subscriptions and Windows is struggling to find a way to demonstrate the same importance and value contribution it once had.

  • by taustin ( 171655 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @06:46PM (#64292826) Homepage Journal

    How to disable Copilot in Windows 11 [tomsguide.com].

    Next week, it will probably not work. But something else will, because Microsoft's own employees hate this crap even more than you or I.

  • Copilot: I see you're trying to disable Copilot. I can do this for you, but it requires Copilot to remain enabled.

  • by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @07:37PM (#64292940) Homepage Journal

    Microsoft must have an entire department dedicated to creating features nobody ever asked for.

  • For now at least you can remove Copilot from the taskbar like any other icon. That solves the problem.\
  • I suspect there is a hidden power struggle at microsoft and other software companies regarding these features. My evidence? The escape key still makes most of this bullshit disappear when instinctively jammed in a lightning-quick reflex.

  • Thank god I paid for windows 11 pro so I can completely nuke Copilot via group policy to not have to deal with this BS.
    • Sounds like paying protection money. The local crime family will see to it that you aren't inconvenienced. For a fee. They also do the inconveniencing if you don't pay the fee, but you're powerless to prevent them so pay up.
  • Anyone remember that clippy suicide note meme?.. that was funny. I guess Co-pilot will do that now.

  • It looks like M$' usability team are losing control of areas of Windows desktop real estate, allowing "no go" areas to emerge. Make sure your mouse doesn't get lost in those areas!
  • And pay for the privilege. MS fanbois really have some serious Stockholm Syndrome going on.

  • Just what I want. Another boss looking at what I'm doing and making suggestions that make no sense. Sounds wonderful.
  • They did the same thing with the weather widget. If you accidentally hovered over the weather widget that showed up unannounced one day, it pops up a much larger stock ticker, weather report, top news, plus a bunch of ads over whatever you're working on, and there's no way to get it to go away without clicking some random other thing on the screen. They just want to force-feed you seeing their advertising, and force-feed you options to send them more data. Copilot is just an extension of this philosophy.

    Is

  • I feel you're misrepresenting the fact hoping to make us upset to increase engagement.

    You state "as annoying as Clippy." What made Clippy annoying was the unprompted interruptions. Yes, as stated twice in the summary (nevermind how many times in the original piece) "after a user's cursor hovers over the icon in the task bar" which is a small 24x24 pixel or smaller area of a 1920x1080 pixel or larger screen. Windows even makes it harder to get there because of the "off the border by a few pixels" design fl

  • For some reason all ChatGPT stuff is blocked by our corporate at work.
    We have Microsoft as our partner, and it's advertising Copilot for us all - ALL the time.

    But here's the fun part.

    We can't use it.

    For example it will suggest an answer, but it just stop with something went wrong and searches forever.
    Copilot's A.i. is blocked.

    Yup, thats useful.

  • I just had my first real experience with Windows 11 this past weekend, and boy was Copilot obnoxious. I didn't know exactly what was going on at the time (I was busy trying to get work done with my boss), only that there was no clear way to turn OFF whatever was randomly popping up.

    With this thread I now see what was going on, and the first thing I did was search out how to disable this refuse.

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