Category Archives: AI

AI, Cool Tools, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Windows 10 Copilot Is Coming

Leave a comment

OK, then. Rumors have been swirling for weeks, but MS made things official on November 16. To see that, please check the “firstPublishedDate” field in this MS Support note: How we are maximizing value in Windows 10. It also tells us that Windows 10 Copilot is coming, initially in the Release Preview channel for Insiders.

What Windows 10 Copilot Is Coming Really Means

MS puts things this way in the afore-linked Support note:

We are hearing great feedback on Copilot in Windows (in preview) and we want to extend that value to more people. For this reason, we are revisiting our approach to Windows 10 and will be making additional investments to make sure everyone can get the maximum value from their Windows PC including Copilot in Windows (in preview).  We are also adding the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle to Windows 10.

Aside from seeking a larger audience (there are 1.0-1.1 B Windows 10 monthly active users, versus around 400 million such users for Windows 11), what else does this change do for Microsoft? Good question! It certainly confirms their commitment to integrating AI into the desktop and its supporting apps and platforms on as many levels as possible.

What Else Does Windows 10 Copilot Tell Us?

Methinks it says MS has learned from history, and does not necessarily expect the world to turn on a dime when Windows 10 EOL comes in October 2025. Taking Windows7 as a case in point, that tide didn’t really turn until 2-3 years after its EOL came along. And in the interim, a lot of customers (especially the US DoD and other government agencies) paid big for “extended support” to keep Windows 7 alive and secure while the migration got underway.

Could it be that MS wants to make the productivity advantages of Copilot available to its largest user base? Definitely. Could they recognize that it is likely to stay in the lead position until 2027. Absolutely. Could this move lower the impetus to migrate, or does it simply acknowledge the most likely outcome in the marketplace? You tell me!

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin
AI, Cool Tools, PowerShell, Recent Activity, WED Blog

Using Copilot Based PowerShell

1 Comment

As an experiment, I’m using Copilot to generate PowerShell commands to complete specific tasks. It’s all centered around scripting to customize Windows Terminal to add fonts, applications, and settings for a specific configuration. Using Copilot based PowerShell isn’t just a “load and go” operation. I’m having to understand and alter code to make sure it runs on both Windows 10 and 11 PCs. So far, I can’t say it’s faster than hacking it out from scratch. But I can say “very educational.”

Using CoPilot Based PowerShell, Step by Step

I’m stepping through the PowerShell code that Copilot presents for handling my specified tasks line by line. In some cases, I’m simplifying by making more direct assignments to variables and manipulating them in the scripts. In other cases, I’m cleaning up minor syntax violations (quotes around string values where they’re not needed, and so forth). In still other instances, I’m figuring out how to complete commands “silently” (supressing user interaction).

But most of what I’m getting is pretty usable. As somebody who’s written plenty of “real code” (Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python and more) this is an interesting way to expand my PowerShell chops. If you’ve got some minor automation to handle — that’s how I’d characterize my current quest — you might find this helpful, too.

Fruits of This Labor…

I’m working on a story for TekkiGurus. I will probably finish up this week, but it takes two-three weeks to get through the editorial pipeline. Thus, you should see a story there from yours truly near month’s end (October 2023, that is). My working title is Creating and Sharing Windows Terminal Profiles Across PCs. Stay tuned, and I’ll plug a link in (and correct the wording, if need be) when it’s up.

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin
AI, Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Where Is AI Taking Windows 11?

Leave a comment

There’s a fascinating story in WindowsLatest this morning. Entitled Microsoft’s AI could supercharge your Windows 11 desktop backgrounds, it describes fancy means for animating the desktop. The idea, apparently, is to create an illusion of depth and add visual interest to ordinary usage scenarios. Sounds cool and perhaps even compelling, but it has me asking: “Where is AI taking Windows 11?”

Answering: “Where is AI taking Windows 11?”

The afore-linked story mentions other, more significant (IMO) uses of AI as well, including Bing and Edge, Windows 11 (e.g. CoPilot), Azure and more. Frankly, I’m a little surprised that desktop backgrounds warrant mention in that same league. Indeed, I’d like to suggest some other and perhaps more helpful ways to use AI in Windows 11 that could really help power and professional IT users on that platform:

  • An AI-based tie-in betweeen Power Automate and PowerShell, or an AI-based PowerShell assistant. I envision something like an over-the-shoulder agent observing patterns of use, and suggesting faster and better ways to do the same things, or providing canned scripts or packages that take over such jobs over time.
  • A series of AI-based system monitors for Windows 11 “behavioral areas” such as security, performance, disk structure, OS image management and optimization, and OS and application update handling. The first topic above could be of great benefit to all these things.
  • Components of the Microsoft 365 environment, including OS, VMs, Office components (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) are already undergoing “AI enrichment.” Improving ease of automation via macros and scripts, especially for repetitive tasks, would be fabulous.

Deciding Where AI Comes Into Play

As the technology becomes more familiar and its uses better understood, I’m sure we’ll see more and better ways to put AI to work at all levels of computing and user interaction. Personally, I’m in favor of AI-assisted user empowerment across the board — that is, from boosting what everday or casual end users can do (and get done) all the way up to those who work in data centers and other tech-heavy environments where the cloud and its supporting infrastructure come from, and sophisticated, distributed applications and services reside and operate.

Who knows where this will take us in a decade or more? Indeed, it’s sure to go further from today’s vision of computing than we can probably imagine. Waaaaaaaaaay beyond desktop backgrounds, to be sure…

Facebooklinkedin
Facebooklinkedin