Has Microsoft lost its magic (again)?

Did you go down the rabbit hole as a crypto client last November with everyone else?

It was an intense time for nerds. I spent a lot of time talking with programming agents during that vacation. It’s been an absolute rocket ship ever since.

Claude Code seems to have done just that I got thunder There, the beating Codex AlimentariusHonestly, the co-pilot. A few years ago, Microsoft’s Copilot programming tool seemed to stand at the head of the pack. Now it’s Claude Code’s turn.

I would respectfully disagree. Programming models are part of it, but Microsoft is a great place for developers. Windows is an open platform on open hardware where people can create anything.

Microsoft wants Scout to be adopted by productivity professionals and even consumers. AI agents make mistakes and suffer from hallucinations. How many mistakes will a person tolerate?

This is a good question. I don’t know. Trust but verify. Give her a small task, then try it to see if it works. And then, “Oh, he didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll give him read-only access to something.” For example, when I tell someone that I’ve given OpenClaw access to my blood sugar, because I have type 1 diabetes, the knee-jerk reaction is, “How dare you give an agent access to your health data?” It is very helpful for me to get proactive notifications about my blood sugar. I don’t think this is controversial.

I understand that, but right now there are many people who are skeptical or hostile to AI.

When a new tool is introduced, whether it’s a chainsaw, a power tool, or an internal combustion engine, there’s a chaotic time as people figure out how to make that thing useful to humans. I personally do not support artificial intelligence, because I vote with my feet. I don’t use AI image generation, I don’t use AI video generation, because I don’t believe in those things. I use artificial intelligence in programming, and I find it fun.

Yes, programmers absolutely love agents, but outside of that community, there is resistance. Microsoft has seen this in the poor performance of its AI productivity tools. Do you expect similar headwinds with agentic AI?

Either they will like it or they won’t. I remember when the Walkman came out and people said, “No one would wear those things on their heads. Those headphones look ridiculous.” Now we’re all walking around with these white tips dangling from our ears.

Don’t you feel like Microsoft is in catch-up mode?

I would respectfully step back and point out that everyone is in catch-up mode, because you move forward and then you go back and forth. It’s a war of the thumb. I like to remind people that the term “copilot” was the first thing Microsoft did, and that term became like Kleenex.

Do you feel that this year’s developer conference has put Microsoft back in the race?

Two Mac users were hanging out with me backstage, and watched Surface laptop ultra Announce. They saw all the new developer tools, begrudgingly looked at us and said, “Screw it, you’re going to make me get a Surface, right?”

Are Fort Mason’s trash cans full of MacBook Airs now?

That would be an amazing result, even though I hate it Make more environmental waste.

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