Microsoft is walking back Windows 11's AI overload

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

AI Pushback as Symptom of Deeper Governance Problems

  • Many see the “walk back” not as a course correction but as evidence of failed leadership: a top‑down “AI everywhere” mandate with no product sense.
  • Others frame it as incentive failure: PMs and managers are rewarded for AI adoption metrics, not user satisfaction, so they “burn the product down” to hit KPIs.
  • Pushback from engineers is viewed as futile when executives explicitly demand AI integration; governance is described as optimizing for hype, not stability.

Windows 11 Enshittification & Loss of User Control

  • Widespread frustration with Windows 11 as bloated, slow, and unstable: sluggish Explorer, inconsistent settings (Settings vs Control Panel), webby and React-based UI, frequent regressions.
  • Complaints about ads, telemetry, web search in Start, forced Microsoft accounts, TPM requirements, and difficulty disabling unwanted features.
  • Backwards compatibility, once a core strength, is said to be quietly eroding in many small but painful ways.

AI & Copilot Integration Backlash

  • Core objection is not AI per se but AI features with no clear user benefit (e.g., Copilot in Notepad/Paint, buttons everywhere) and no clear off-switch.
  • Recall is seen as a privacy nightmare that solves the wrong problem; users would rather have robust workspace/session management.
  • Some admit AI can be occasionally useful but resent default-on cloud processing, opaque resource use, and lack of clear privacy guarantees.

Branding, Naming, and Product Vision

  • Strong negativity toward killing the “Office” brand in favor of “Microsoft 365 Copilot,” seen as marketing-driven self-sabotage.
  • Microsoft’s naming strategy (Azure AD/Entra, .NET/365/Copilot eras) is widely mocked as confusing and emblematic of internal politics over user clarity.

Migration to Linux/Mac and Strategic Concerns

  • Many report finally switching personal machines to Linux (or Mac) after Windows 11, often after decades on Windows; for some, work machines are the last holdout.
  • Some hope continued missteps will further improve Linux’s desktop position and force better hardware driver support.
  • Others argue Windows remains a lucrative enterprise/Server moat; from that perspective, turning the OS into an ad/AI funnel is rational value extraction.
  • Skepticism is high that Microsoft will truly retreat from AI; several expect only cosmetic changes and continued long‑term AI embedding.