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Surfacehas always fought with one arm behind its back, in essence.
Microsoft is spending more than ever on R&D, racing to commercialize AI tools likeCopilotwith the masses.
Panos Panay presents the Surface Laptop 3 with Apple-like poise.
But, I feel it’s hardware, not software that will inspire the future of this paradigm.
You know, like not getting hot enough to fry an egg.
However, I didn’t argue that Microsoft should give up and stop trying.
The ultimate all-in-one, at least in theory. We may never see a new Surface Studio emerge ever again.
Indeed, Surface innovated in ways that no other company has been able to replicate since its inception.
The flaws in the Surface devices were well documented, of course.
They were incredibly pricy for what they ultimately were.
The ultimate all-in-one, at least in theory. We may never see a new Surface Studio emerge ever again.
But the problem is, nobody cares.
Panos Panay and the Surface of old represented effortlessness in communicating with consumers.
Yet still, Panos Panay’s Surface sparked the imagination.
Let’s be real, nobody actually cares about Copilot+ PCs.
The Surface brand elevated all Windows laptops with its efforts in presentation, hand-in-hand with innovation.
Nobody will change their default browsers, tools, and services away from what is pre-installed on the equipment.
Nobody is going to quit Google Chrome for the near-identical Microsoft Edge.
The now-dead Cortana-powered “Invoke” is a relic of Microsoft’s early experiments to marry assistive agents with hardware endpoints.
Nobody is going to quit Google for Bing.
Merely offering a product that is ‘near-identical’ to the competition is not enough to change user behavior.
To truly make an impact, innovation is key.
Surface defined an entire category that even Apple had to copy. Those days are now gone.
Microsoft needs to offer something new, compelling, and above and beyond what Apple and Google provide.
It’s perhaps understandable that Microsoft has given itself cold feet when it comes to hardware.
Products like theSurface Duo are now dead, theMicrosoft Band is a distant memory.There will be no HoloLens 3.
Even the Xbox Series X|S is struggling, with year-over-year declines.
Xbox has been propped up by a massive $70 billion purchasein Activision-Blizzard-King, however.
But it’s difficult to ignore the pattern of Microsoft buying its way into the party here.
And sure, I’m not naive.
However, Microsoft increasingly looks more like a glorified bank than a products and services company.
TheCopilot app on Windows has actually lost featuresover time and is ultimately nothing more than yet another Bing wrapper.
At least Cortana could check my calendar.
Many of Microsoft’s competitors are forging ahead with real innovation in the AI space.
Adobe just debuted generative expand for video clips just yesterday.
I can’t even get Microsoft’s video editorClipchampto open half of the time.
It’s absurd to me that Samsung Notes has more AI features than Microsoft OneNote.
Microsoft is spending more than ever on R&D, but where’s the money going?
AI might be cloud-based, but you need a real-world hardware endpoint to interact with it.
Assuming Copilot is even the right product, it needs its Surface Pro moment.
Copilot needs something tactile that people can reach out to and touch.
People at Microsoft are being paid far more than I am to figure this stuff out.
And that’s not to say that spirit of innovation was only the result of Panos, of course.
The latest Surface devices are still excellent.
Surface is coasting now because that’s all Satya Nadella wants out of it.
That’s most likely whyPanos Panay fled for Amazonand Surface architectRalf Groene left.
That Surface “spirit of innovation” most likely still exists within the company, too, of course.
But hey, shareholders certainly don’t seem to care.
So, consider this a rant into the ether much like consumer feedback on Microsoft in general.
