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Microsoft Unveils AI-Powered Overhaul for Windows 11 (windows.com) 57

Posted by msmash from the PSA dept.
Microsoft has unveiled a substantial AI-focused update for Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs, introducing features that leverage neural processing units across the operating system. The update centers on AI-powered helpers across core Windows apps, with an intelligent agent in Settings that can locate and adjust options via natural voice commands. Key additions include expanded Click To Do functionality, allowing users to draft Word content based on screen context, engage Reading Coach, or send details directly to Excel tables.

The Photos app gains a relight feature with support for three customizable light sources, while Paint adds object selection and text-to-sticker generation. Snipping Tool will automatically detect and crop prominent screen content, adding text extraction and color picking capabilities. System-level enhancements include an updated Start menu with phone companion integration, AI-powered actions in File Explorer for content summarization, and text generation in Notepad with new formatting options.

Most features will debut first on Windows Insider builds for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs before expanding to systems with AMD or Intel chips. Several tools, including Ask Copilot and Reading Coach, are already available to Insiders.
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Microsoft Unveils AI-Powered Overhaul for Windows 11 More

Microsoft Unveils AI-Powered Overhaul for Windows 11

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  • Who is asking for AI features? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Tuesday May 06, 2025 @02:11PM (#65356803) Homepage Journal

    Are end-users really asking for some Big Brother bullshit to be inside their computer. That monitors all their activities and suggests things to them, and perhaps subtly offers advertisements. With some of these LLMs providing accurate information less than 50% of the time, is there an actual value to this? Obviously the market investors perceive a value, but that's not necessarily the same thing.

  • Good news, everyone! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday May 06, 2025 @02:12PM (#65356811)

    Linux desktops don't do any of this "we put AI into everything, no you have to use it" bullshit that Microsoft is pushing upon you.

    There is an alternative if you so desire it.

    • Chalk up another competitive advantage for Linux!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      Give the current Gnome and KDE devs a few months...

    • Linux desktops don't do any of this "we put AI into everything, no you have to use it" bullshit that Microsoft is pushing upon you.

      There is an alternative if you so desire it.

      I've said for years that the Windows fans will accept as much bullshit as Microsoft feeds them. Standing by for the people saying how they just have to use Microsoft, nothing else will work.

      There may be no imposition that shakes their faith. The shit tests haven't failed so far.

      • Re:Good news, everyone! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Voyager529 ( 1363959 ) <voyager529@yahoo ... m minus language> on Tuesday May 06, 2025 @04:24PM (#65357159)

        Linux desktops don't do any of this "we put AI into everything, no you have to use it" bullshit that Microsoft is pushing upon you.

        There is an alternative if you so desire it.

        I've said for years that the Windows fans will accept as much bullshit as Microsoft feeds them. Standing by for the people saying how they just have to use Microsoft, nothing else will work.

        The problem with this line of reasoning is, ironically, is that it's the same line of reasoning that has caused Microsoft to add their AI shovelware into Windows, and that's this: that Windows is a selection made, by users, explicitly.

        It isn't. Microsoft's mindset on this matter is that people actively choose to run Windows because of the value-add that Microsoft implements, while the Linux enthusiasts assume people run Windows because they don't know better.

        Windows is still as popular as it is because of all the applications on it. That's it. That is the reason people run Windows. If they don't have Windows-specific software, they've likely already moved to an iPad or a Chromebook or a Mac or just using their phone for everything. If they're using Windows, it's not because of some allegiance to Redmond, it's because of an allegiance somewhere else; Windows is simply a means to an end. "GIMP and LibreOffice are drop-in replacements!!", even if it were true, is a half-baked sales pitch.

        Allow me to paint a picture that might shed a bit of perspective: Assume I was encouraging you to move to VoyagerOS. It doesn't run Chrome or Firefox, but it does have a web browser. It doesn't have LibreOffice or OpenOffice, but it does have a word processor and a spreadsheet. It doesn't run Apache or nginx or lighttpd, but it does have a web server. It doesn't have php/perl/python or VSCode/Eclipse, but it does have a scripting language and an IDE. It doesn't have GIMP or Photoshop, but it does have an image editor. It won't run MySQL, MariaDB, or Postgres, but it does have a database. It doesn't have VLC or AIMP or iTunes, but it does have a music and video player. ...you're buying a new computer with this OS, right? Because I said it's awesome, right? It runs software *equivalent* to what you're used to, but am I really in a place to truly ensure that 'equivalent' to your use case? Of course not...and while it's probably "close enough", "most of the time", you're just going to...slide into my DMs for help, right? I mean, I'm the one who encouraged you to use it, so...obviously you'd be totally okay with me telling you to Google the answers to all your questions, right?

        Of course you wouldn't switch, because your preferred distribution, for all of its flaws, are worth putting up with those flaws because rebuilding your *entire* software stack, and learning all of the idiosyncrasies of all of the replacements, all at the same time, is more headache than it's worth to switch.

        THAT is the essence of "just switch to Linux". There are countless use cases that extend beyond Word, Excel, and a web browser, and I say this as someone who uses more Linux at home than Windows...but as long as "just move to Linux" hinges on a *similar* software stack, it's not going to be an improvement over Windows to those dependent on Windows software, it'll just be a matter of trading problems.

        • Linux desktops don't do any of this "we put AI into everything, no you have to use it" bullshit that Microsoft is pushing upon you.

          There is an alternative if you so desire it.

          I've said for years that the Windows fans will accept as much bullshit as Microsoft feeds them. Standing by for the people saying how they just have to use Microsoft, nothing else will work.

          The problem with this line of reasoning is, ironically, is that it's the same line of reasoning that has caused Microsoft to add their AI shovelware into Windows, and that's this: that Windows is a selection made, by users, explicitly.

          It isn't. Microsoft's mindset on this matter is that people actively choose to run Windows because of the value-add that Microsoft implements, while the Linux enthusiasts assume people run Windows because they don't know better.

          Well, FWIW, I use Windows, Linux and MacOS. But perhaps Windows only users know a lot more than me and the others who believe it is a piece of crap. I also spend 90 percent of my computer downtime on Windows.

          Windows is still as popular as it is because of all the applications on it. That's it.

          Awesome - then they will serve as amusement, and verification that the fans will do whatever Microsoft say they will do, and put up with it. I can hardly wait until it is a SaaS. Will you pay whatever Microsoft dec

          • Microsoft isn't going to kill the goose. They have kept Windows to a very steady price point. Windows really costs them only what it costs them to distribute and support it, because they are developing it for their corporate, government, and embedded commercial users. And they have gotten the cost of distribution down to virtually nothing by doing it without even so much as a COA. Maybe there's a sticker. The OEMs are doing all the work. They also are spending roughly no effort going after people who are us

      • The issue is that there is a lack of many applications critical to real jobs on Linux, or really any OS that isn't Windows.

        I can't run AutoCAD to do electrical drawings under Linux, I can't run Solid works, I can't run ePlan. I can't run Allen Bradley PLC Programming software, or the firmware flasher software, or the software that pushes settings into motor protection units.

        I can't do serious EDA work without Altium.

        Linux has a lot of developer and web tools, but for most real-world engineering type jobs it

        • The issue is that there is a lack of many applications critical to real jobs on Linux, or really any OS that isn't Windows.

          I can't run AutoCAD to do electrical drawings under Linux, I can't run Solid works, I can't run ePlan. I can't run Allen Bradley PLC Programming software, or the firmware flasher software, or the software that pushes settings into motor protection units.

          I can't do serious EDA work without Altium.

          Linux has a lot of developer and web tools, but for most real-world engineering type jobs it has nothing.

          You and I have a different outlook. I have a couple programs that are only available on Windows. SO I use Windows for that. I have some programs that are only on MacOS, so I use MacOS for that. Linux has many programs I like, but I mainly use it to experiment.

          A computer is nothing but a tool, like a wrench. But I have the weird thing - I demand uptime. I demand on time. If the computer isn't working for me, it is worse than useless

          And yeah MacOS and Linux have it (MacOS is Unix, and Linux is Unix-y) A

          • I'm not sure our outlook is actually very significantly divergent. Maybe I didn't elaborate it well in my comment, but I am not a fan of Windows, and while I haven't had the issues you've been having with activation I regularly have other infuriating failures occur as a regular course of events.

            I also view computers as just tools. I also have a lot of fun playing with computers and stuff, but my day job (or my paying job, if you prefer) requires the use of software that must comply with certain standards an

    • Re:Good news, everyone! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Tuesday May 06, 2025 @03:14PM (#65357011)

      Linux desktops don't do any of this "we put AI into everything, no you have to use it" bullshit that Microsoft is pushing upon you.

      systemd devs: "Hold my beer."

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Monoman ( 8745 )

      I recently went back to dual booting Linux on my personal desktop. It has been weeks since I booted into Windows. I'll leave it there for now just in case I have a Windows need.

    • There is an alternative if you so desire it.

      Only if you have older hardware. All peripherals on all computers are updated yearly to require different drivers. Linux simply can not keep up and the manufacturers specifically make it more difficult.

      • I haven't seen a new PC be released that can't run Linux. It may not have support for every bell and whistle yet but the fact remains that there is an alternative to Windows if you so desire it.

  • I was worried that AI wasn't being crammed into enough things. Thank god it is Microsoft, that most competent and ethical of companies, who are leading the way to the sunny OS AI uplands.

  • I've been wondering about these "AI PCs". They don't really seem to have a purpose, today. AI needs a lot of horsepower thus we have cloud connected data centers full of GPUs doing the AI processing. Local AI processing on these AI PC chips is so tragically anemic as to be unusable. So, why is Microsoft pushing for them?

    I think that the plan is not to simply have very weak local AI processing on the local desktop. I think Microsoft's plan is to build a massive distributed computing cluster and offload Copil

    • I can only assume that these AI PCs will sell to clueless executives who are chasing buzzwords: "But these PCs have AI that we need!"

    • Re:Am I The Only One? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday May 06, 2025 @02:41PM (#65356907) Homepage Journal

      I've been wondering about these "AI PCs". They don't really seem to have a purpose, today. AI needs a lot of horsepower

      No.

      Some LLM tasks require a lot of power, like training large models. Some require not very much power, like running small models. They do require some different hardware than most laptops have (most do not have enough GPU to do much) so they are adding some of that hardware to the CPU, because that's an easier sell than laptops with a lot more GPU.

      I think that the plan is not to simply have very weak local AI processing on the local desktop. I think Microsoft's plan is to build a massive distributed computing cluster and offload Copilot's massive compute load(cost) onto Microsoft's fleet of our PCs.

      That's unlikely, because what you need for those big LLM tasks is a lot of memory bandwidth, and you're not going to get that with an internet-distributed cluster.

  • ...the photo viewer can automatically find all the photos containing my ex and photoshop her out of those images with a single command.

    • And move on. That's the great thing about computers. They can delete unwanted memories unless they are given over to Facebook or Microsoft Bing OneCloud Dynamics 365 CoPilot AI for Business Fabric.

      • Why should I have to delete all my data instead of just the offending bits?

      • Just erase all your data and move on

        Isn't erasing all your data already a built-in core function automatically executed by Windows at random intervals?

  • I would be totally on-board with this if they used a local AI like Apple does. Or even "use a local AI if your machine meets these requirements" or "only if you turn it on." But as-is, I am forced to send everything to Microsoft's cloud. Which, I admit, 99% of people don't care about so us privacy-focused nerds are an ailing relic. How about a plug-in that lets me change the engine? I know Microsoft's Semantic Kernel allows for this, so it should be easy for them to do if they are eating their own dog

  • AI (Score:2)

    by gwjgwj ( 727408 )
    You mean Analog Inputs?
  • .. is to JUST F*** OFF! When AI is useful for a specific task or question, it is available to ask at that time. Do not shove it into word processing, browsing, images, or anywhere else it's not specifically invited.

  • I miss the days when a Windows OS could be barebones. When an fresh install was a blank slate, not a load of garbage you want to get rid of.

    • "you want to get rid of" - who said you can rid of it? The only sure way to avoid Microsoft's bullshit is not to use Microsoft's bullshit.

  • Much of AI is just the newest elements of the global surveillance network and police state implementation. I'm constantly amazed at our imbecility as a species.

  • ... gaming linux platform? Skynet moves in faster than we can fight M$.

  • Copilot+ SKUs. Windows 11 Copilot+

    So, unless you're actually running one of these SKUs - this does not apply to you.

    But do feel free to keep manuacturing outrage.

    Intentionally burying the relevant facts is just so /. FUDdy it would be hilarious if it weren't so sad.

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