Microsoft’s Notepad might be the planet’s most perfect computer program: You open it. You type some stuff. You save it. Then, you move on with your life. (If you’re some kind of pervert, you might also play around with formatting or a font or two; we’re not here to judge.) Which made it feel that little bit extra ridiculous about a year ago, when the Windows 11 version of the PC writing equivalent of a cuneiform tablet suddenly started offering AI integration to those of us just trying to keep track of which dang movies we’ve seen this year. Sure, none of these new additions were useful or anything, because they never are, but it did feel pointed: We’re Microsoft, and there’s nothing we won’t stick this crap in!
A year later, the Windows company has just put out a blog admitting that maybe—just maybe!—it was being a tad excessive in pushing its latest technical addiction onto the masses. In the post, written by EVP of Windows and Devices Pavan Davuluri (per TechCrunch), Davuluri writes that Microsoft’s new goal is to “be more intentional about how and where Copilot integrates across Windows, focusing on experiences that are genuinely useful and well‑crafted.” That includes reducing “unnecessary”—their word, not ours, somehow—”Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad.” And while it’s not clear yet if all the Copilot integration is being stripped out of the program, it still feels like we’re a few steps closer to being free of the tyranny of right-clicking the plain white field where we definitely don’t write down all our passwords, and having a computer offer to “helpfully” burn down a small forest in order to remix them.
Microsoft has been nutty enough, in recent years, about inflating the current AI bubble that Windows 11’s Copilot obsession has picked up its own special nickname: Microslop. (Probably not helped by CEO Satya Nadella making public statements about how he doesn’t like it when people use that particular s-word to refer to AI output.) In the past, the tech giant has just sort of blundered past various objections from the large number of people who consider these integrations irritating, unnecessary, and wasteful—which makes it kind of fascinating to see them actually blink for once.