Do you remember the days when software vendors made products for the benefit of their users, and not themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve been using Microsoft Windows since 1990. Since then I’ve had at least one Windows machine for personal and work purposes. Back in the day, the majority of my machines were Windows \u2014 but now it’s only the bare minimum, for I’ve recently switched to Linux and Mac wherever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it ironic that my company makes revenue by selling software for Windows, but I personally now despise that operating system?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am lucky that I am fluent in both Unix and Windows, and have been for decades. So unlike many others, I have the freedom to choose my operating system. Today my default operating system for servers is Linux and for workstations it’s Mac \u2014 and I only use Windows where necessary for testing and build machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three things have driven me insane. Let’s talk about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We run build machines and test machines. These are environments where stability matters above almost everything else. I expect security updates \u2014 but I should still be in charge of what is on my own system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Microsoft OneDrive started popping up unexpectedly on my machines. I was baffled, because I didn’t think I had OneDrive installed there. I started to doubt myself \u2014 maybe I had configured things wrongly and forgotten to uninstall OneDrive when I built the system originally. For that matter, there were also these games installed on the system that I thought I had uninstalled months earlier. The first time something like that happens, you tend to accept responsibility yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then, some months later, Copilot started appearing on my machines. I had already had massive frustration with Copilot when it inserted itself into Microsoft 365 \u2014 more on that shortly. So this was absolutely infuriating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We try to keep our build environments as clean as possible. Microsoft kept getting in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Believe it or not, in our test environments there are cases where we want \u2014 or need \u2014 to run our software on older hardware. Running on older and slower hardware means we can more easily detect performance problems that would otherwise be masked by faster hardware with more RAM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That need is directly undermined by Microsoft’s policies to end support for Windows 10 and then impose tougher hardware requirements for Windows 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Microsoft makes a unilateral decision, we as customers have to cop it. And those of us who know about planned obsolescence are obviously very cynical about Microsoft’s practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to be able to log into Microsoft 365 and get to SharePoint or OneDrive without any fuss. Then one day the landing page was gone, replaced by Copilot \u2014 just a single text box staring back at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first I thought I had clicked on the wrong bookmark, so I tried it again, only to get to the same page. I wondered to myself \u2014 am I going insane, or did this used to get me to my Microsoft 365 account?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, with only this single text box in front of me, I typed in: “How do I get to SharePoint?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It didn’t know. It gave me a bunch of links. None of them worked. I tried rephrasing the question. I got different wrong answers. At one point it told me I didn’t have permission to access something I’d been using for years without any issue. I spent more than 15 minutes going around in circles, and in the end I just gave up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this is the thing that really gets me \u2014 when Copilot doesn’t know the answer, it doesn’t say so. It either gives you wrong directions with complete confidence, or it tells you that you don’t have permissions, which sends you off questioning your own account setup. It inserted itself as the first point of contact for a platform I depend on, and it wasn’t remotely ready for that role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft didn’t ask if I wanted this. They just did it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading back over these frustrations, the common thread is obvious. In each case, Microsoft had leverage \u2014 over my environment, over my hardware investment, over a platform I depended on \u2014 and used that leverage to serve Microsoft’s interests rather than mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ever since Microsoft made perpetual licences of Office increasingly unworkable, almost forcing us onto subscriptions, I have felt like nothing but an instrument for their profit. They didn’t care about me \u2014 they only cared about my wallet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this year I happened to see this insightful video from ColdFusion<\/a> on YouTube<\/p>\n\n\n\n