Microsoft’s finest and worst of 2024, not surprisingly, centered round AI. When Microsoft was attempting to pressure Copilot upon us, it didn’t go so nicely. However when it used AI to boost what was already working, the outcomes have been way more profitable.
For the previous few years (2021, 2022, and 2023) we’ve recapped what I name Microsoft’s wins, fails, and WTF moments: Microsoft’s highs, lows, and the moments the place you questioned what on the earth that this firm was as much as.
We’re not going to try to piece collectively the corporate’s enterprise technique (Azure and Copilot, principally). As a substitute, we’re sticking to the enjoyable stuff: Floor, Recreation Move, and the insanity that’s Microsoft’s AI. For those who’re upset, write us a nasty e mail after which use Copilot to rewrite it in a “skilled” tone. We’ll get to it…someday.
Home windows on Arm: WIN
Once I reviewed the Microsoft Floor Professional eleventh Version this previous June, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, I examined the appliance compatibility, too. Sure apps like Slack, Google, Drive, VPNs, and a few video games have all both refused to run or just struggled, whereas the expertise of utilizing an previous printer on a Snapdragon X platform simply hasn’t been all that nice.
However by the autumn, Google Drive had been ported to Arm. Slack runs flawlessly. VPNs together with Nord now run natively on Arm. AMD and Intel supply full x86 compatibility, after all, and I can’t see PC gaming migrating to Arm for fairly a while — until Nvidia delivers on a rumored Arm chip, presumably. I nonetheless see myself hauling out an x86 laptop computer if I have to print one thing on my previous Brother printer, however the Home windows on Arm ecosystem seems increasingly more like the way forward for productiveness PCs. Proper now, my each day driver is the Arm-powered Floor Laptop computer, even with an Intel Lunar Lake laptop computer sitting on my shelf.
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You truly listened! You probably did one thing about it! Bravo, Arm ecosystem. Whether or not you find yourself profitable or not, competitors is likely one of the strongest market forces obtainable. And we’ve all benefited.
Microsoft Recall: WTF
It’s onerous to name Microsoft’s Recall something however a fiasco, nevertheless it will definitely performs out. Recall was speculated to be the one function that drove shoppers and companies alike to Copilot+ PCs and Home windows 11’s 2024 Replace. I appreciated the idea, although I identified it could gobble storage by the truckload. Privateness advocates freaked out. Recall met with delay after delay whereas the idea was reworked to incorporate opting out and the flexibility to take away Recall totally.
As a substitute, Microsoft ended the yr by seeding developer builds to both Snapdragon X Elite-powered PCs or (in December) PCs powered by Intel Lunar Lake/AMD Ryzen AI 300 PCs. Surprisingly, Recall form of light from public view whereas the vacation season ramped up.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Microsoft seems to have accomplished a good job making Recall opt-in. In my Recall hands-on, although, I discovered Recall’s crime was inconsistency: It will snapshot some issues, and never others. That left me not sure of whether or not I wished to rely on it or not. At this level, “who is aware of” needs to be Recall’s slogan.
Home windows 11 2024 Replace: FAIL
Between the 4 Microsoft Home windows Insider launch channels, plus the differing timelines for each Home windows on Arm (June, with the discharge of the Floor Laptop computer 7 and Floor Professional eleventh Version) and x86 (October, with launch of the Home windows 11 2024 Replace) and the various timelines of particular person Home windows apps, this yr has been a nightmare so far as understanding what’s popping out and when. And that even assumes Microsoft holds to the timetables.
Now, after dictating that customers completely should adhere to the Home windows 11 {hardware} necessities, Microsoft is now publishing guides to improve to Home windows 11 on unsupported {hardware}? Between that and the buyer model of its Prolonged Safety Updates plan for Home windows 10, it appears like Microsoft is starting to panic.
Floor Professional (2024): WIN
Microsoft’s Floor Professional eleventh Version has had over a dozen iterations to get it proper, so the truth that the Home windows pill succeeded isn’t stunning. Right here’s the way in which I see it: The Floor Professional 9 (5G), its predecessor, was an Arm pill with a Qualcomm Snapdragon SQ3 chip inside that carried out nicely when working Microsoft’s core apps. This yr’s very good Floor Professional eleventh Version continues to increase the 9’s competencies into extra mainstream apps.
Mark Hachman / IDG
This pill wasn’t good — the OLED show wants tweaking, and the brand new Wi-fi Flex Professional keyboard supplied possibly an excessive amount of vary? However in case you’re the kind of one who prefers a Home windows pill, the Floor Professional delivered. Even the occasional app incompatibilities have obtained immediate consideration, which was refreshing.
Floor Laptop computer 7: WIN
Due to Microsoft’s unexpectedly compressed evaluation schedule, I didn’t have an opportunity to check out the Floor Laptop computer 7 till after my colleague Matt Smith praised it to the skies. I believe he’s proper. For now, the Floor Laptop computer 7 is my each day driver, if solely as a result of the unique Floor Laptop computer Studio might have crapped out on me.
For me, 2024 was the yr that producers gave up on supplying charging ports at press occasions, that means that hauling round a power-sipping laptop computer was a should. Proper now, the Floor Laptop computer 7 gives the perfect mixture of lengthy battery life, an amazing display screen, and a cushty keyboard. Do I wish to use one thing with complete x86 compatibility? I’d, however the Asus “Lunar Lake” laptop computer available is just a bit too laggy proper now. For basic workplace work, the Floor Laptop computer 7 has been a star.
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Recreation Move tiers: WTF
My colleague Michael Crider summed it up neatly: Microsoft’s Recreation Move simply bought Microsoft 365’d. What was as soon as a comparatively understandable two tiers of gaming goodness now could be basically 4, or 5, and now some plans give you free video games, and others don’t. I’m simply fortunate that I’ve collected factors in Microsoft Rewards over the previous few years and don’t have to consider it.
Floor Studio 2+, RIP: FAIL
Nobody cherished the Floor Studio’s inexplicable alternative of cell components, however individuals fell onerous for its mammoth, swiveling touchscreen that invoked pure technolust in whoever considered it. And now Microsoft has discontinued it.
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Farewell, Floor Show. We weren’t the primary to ask for it, however we gained’t be the final. What a chance, now misplaced.
Microsoft Copilot: FAIL
Wait, the foundational AI device that Microsoft reoriented its total firm round is a failure? From a client perspective, sure, it’s.
Copilot is now an app, and a crappy one at that. Copilot’s angle, fortunately, has advanced from a prissy assistant to one thing a bit extra simple, however gone too are the choices to set the tone as artistic or informative. It’s simply not particularly useful. Bing has additionally eliminated Copilot-driven outcomes from its Bing outcomes pages, and I can’t determine whether or not that was pushed by consumer backlash or as a chance to avoid wasting cash. Copilot can’t even management your PC any extra.
Mark Hachman / IDG
What’s Copilot at this level? Is it nothing greater than a enterprise subscription, Copilot Professional, which is already being bundled into some client plans as a result of it may possibly’t promote? Whereas it’s in all probability truthful to say that Microsoft continues to be determining who will use Copilot and for what functions, “improvements” like Copilot Imaginative and prescient simply go to point out that Microsoft appears to be reinventing options that Copilot supplied beforehand, without spending a dime. I’d wish to say that I “get” Copilot, however proper now it’s only a sticker slapped on no matter Microsoft needs to promote you subsequent.
HoloLens 2, RIP: FAIL
The HoloLens has been successfully lifeless for years. Nonetheless, Microsoft confirmed to UploadVR that it’s now actually lifeless as a industrial product, even because the U.S. Military continues to futz round with the militarized HoloLens IVAS. Even when the HoloLens is lifeless, Microsoft is teaming up with Meta and the Meta Quest 3/3S to stream Home windows to them.
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The unique debut of the HoloLens was one of many biggest demos I’ve ever seen. If solely Microsoft may have gotten it proper.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024: FAIL
I’m not a flight simulator fan, however Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2020 felt like a meditative tour of a world I may by no means go to, particularly in the course of the pandemic. Its actual energy was that Microsoft got down to create a “digital twin” of the actual world.
Flight Simulator 2024 takes that to a different degree, and that’s not at all times nice. Microsoft solely masses 50GB of information onto your PC, although it shoots for a digital Earth that’s as photorealistic as doable, all the way down to particular person automobile visitors and even animals. That leaves tons of information to be streamed from Microsoft’s servers, which buckled below the load. (I barely made it out of the launch display screen, myself.)
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Sure, the result’s apparently near phenomenal. However for me, MSFS2024‘s expertise didn’t impress, particularly as studies say simply enjoying the sport sucks up 81GB of information per hour. For gamers with knowledge caps, that makes MSFS2024 just about an inconceivable proposition.
Microsoft Copilot+ PCs: WTF
A brand new processor, a brand new Home windows function replace, a flagship Home windows function — the entire planets seemingly aligned for a brand new, powerhouse PC branding initiative? Effectively, Recall bombed. PCs with Intel’s Lunar Lake and AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 didn’t obtain the Home windows replace which might ship them Copilot+ PC options — and so they nonetheless haven’t, Recall apart. Copilot?
It’s not all dangerous! An increasing number of functions have been ported to Arm, which makes Copilot+ PCs that extra highly effective. However after we’re writing tales about the right way to repair Copilot+ PCs, you recognize you’ve failed.
Generative AI inside Home windows: WIN
If I have been inventing a set of artistic apps inside Home windows, I’m undecided I’d put all my chips on the legacy Paint app. However with improvements we noticed this yr in Paint (Cocreator) and Images (background erase and generative take away) Microsoft is displaying that there’s nonetheless room for good, artistic expression inside Home windows. Paint, Images, and Clipchamp strip these artistic processes all the way down to their essences, then construct up.
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AI is used to good impact in issues like Paint’s Generative Fill and Erase, with out going too loopy (the exception is Cocreator, whose real-time AI generative artwork doesn’t actually work). However even Clipchamp is getting AI-generated templates. AI, and native AI, represents fertile alternatives to enhance the Home windows core apps.
Personally, I’m wondering if Microsoft doesn’t have one thing up its sleeve for Home windows Sound Recorder. We have already got pictures and video — enhancing audio enhancing inside Home windows with some AI goodness looks like a no brainer, proper?
Windows95Man Paperclip: WIN
Positive, this may need nothing to do with Microsoft per se, however how will you not root for Teemu Keisteri, the Finnish consultant for Eurovision 2024? Windows95Man caps off our record of the perfect wins, fails, and WTF moments of 2024 with the smash hit (?) “Paperclip,” which celebrates Microsoft’s iconic icon, Clippy.
We’ll see you in 2025!
