The Hot Take: Is this the beginning or Ai push back across the market that might include hardware soon?
Microsoft has started stripping Copilot branding out of Notepad in Windows 11, replacing the old Copilot menu with a more generic "writing tools" label. The AI features themselves aren't going away, but Microsoft seems to be backing off the heavy-handed Copilot branding and extra entry points. Windows Central reports: As promised, Microsoft is now beginning its effort to reduce and remove Copilot branding across Windows 11, with the latest Notepad update for Insiders outright removing the Copilot icon and phrasing. Now, the AI menu is simply called "writing tools," and maintains the same functionality as before. Additionally, Microsoft has also removed references to AI in the Settings area in Notepad. Now, the ability to turn on or off these AI powered writing tools are now listed under "Advanced features."
This change is present in the latest preview build of Notepad which is now rolling out to all Windows Insiders. The app version is 11.2512.28.0, and you'll know you have it if you see the Copilot icon replaced with a pen icon instead. [...] For Notepad, it appears Microsoft has opted to replace the Copilot menu with something more generic. It's still the same functionally, but it's no longer leaning on the tainted Copilot brand. Of course, you can still easily turn off all AI features in Notepad if you don't want them. The Verge reports that the "unnecessary Copilot buttons" are also disappearing from the Snipping Tool, Photos, and Widgets.
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The Hot Take: When you're pushing skinned version of the edge browser your native apps will start to show signs....
Microsoft is investigating a known issue that prevents some Classic Outlook users from sending emails via Outlook.com. [...]
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The Hot Take: Trying to win customers over again as many are eyeing Linux alternatives. Only problem, I'm hearing things about Opensource possibly going to subscriptions just like others because coding for free doesn't help peoples bottom lines.
Weren't these supposed to be 'atypical'? Microsoft is preparing another out-of-band update to address its latest problematic update following reports of installation errors.âŚ
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The Hot Take: Well that's good, now that seeing Microsoft is going back to discreet applications and not just skins of Microsoft Edge to consume all your RAM. You'd think MS apps would be optimized for each other but I guess the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.
âMicrosoft has resolved a known issue that rendered the classic Outlook email client unusable for users who enabled the Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in. [...]
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The Hot Take: So does this mean Microsoft Edge won't be consuming ALL of my RAM? I mean this is probably in response to the RAM usage I would think.
Microsoft has confirmed it will build 100% native apps for Windows 11 and form a new team to spearhead the project. Itâs unclear whether all new apps will be built on a native UI framework like WinUI, but Microsoft has assured that at least some wonât rely on web-based components.
Back in 2020, Microsoftâs Windows boss, Panos Panay, said the company wants you to love Windows, not just need it. However, nothing really happened, and Panos eventually left the company.
Fast forward to 2026, Windows leadership is promising another revival, but this time, Microsoft appears serious, and weâre seeing internal efforts.
Microsoft has announced a major Windows 11 update to address underlying performance issues, make the context menu load faster, reduce File Explorer launch time, move the Start menu to WinUI, and add the ability to move the taskbar. In fact, youâll be able to resize the taskbar and switch to a compact layout, similar to the Windows 10 experience.
But it turns out Windows improvements wonât be limited to OS-level components, as Microsoft has also pledged to improve apps.
Rudy Huyn, a Partner Architect at Microsoft working on the Store and File Explorer, says he is forming a team focused on building better apps for Windows 11.
âIâm building a new team to work on Windows apps! You donât need prior experience with the platform.. what matters most is strong product thinking and a deep focus on the customer,â Huyn wrote in a post on X. âIf youâve built great apps on any platform and care about crafting meaningful user experiences, Iâd love to hear from you.â
Many developers are already applying, but some are questioning Microsoftâs approach. One user asked whether these apps would be PWAs (Progressive Web Apps).
To our surprise, Huyn dismissed that idea and said the new Windows 11 apps will be 100% native.
That said, â100%â is a strong claim.
Some so-called native apps today are only partially built with WinUI, with certain features still relying on WebView. A truly native app would be fully built on the WinUI framework, without loading components through WebView.
At the moment, we donât know what the new ânativeâ Windows 11 apps are coming our way, and itâs also not clear if Microsoft plans to update existing web-based apps with a native UI.
Right now, Microsoft rarely builds native apps for Windows 11. In fact, Windows 11âs built-in video editor, Clipchamp, is also a Progressive Web App.
Microsoft Clipchamp is a WebView2 powered video editor
Moreover, Microsoftâs two flagship products, Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot, are now web apps.
Over the past few years, Microsoft has shown little to no interest in building native apps for Windows 11, and third-party developers have followed the companyâs lead.
WhatsApp is one of the popular apps that dropped the native WinUI framework in favor of a Chromium-based web app.
It remains to be seen whether Microsoft can convince Meta and other companies to build native apps for Windows 11, or if it will make Microsoft Store rules stricter.
We also donât know if Microsoft plans to update existing web-based apps with a native UI.
The post Microsoft plans to build 100% native apps for Windows 11, as web apps ruin the OS experience appeared first on Windows Latest
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The Hot Take: Something they've been screaming about for a long time. What about options to disable all the Ai in the OS? /crickets
Movable and resizable Taskbar is confirmed to be making its way to Windows 11 this year. Here's everything you need to know about how it will work!
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The Hot Take: Yeah Microsoft and all companies could have done this long ago but now that RAM is priced through the roof is the only reason they're now looking at this. I wouldn't doubt all the browser folks are going to suddenly start looking at their usage here soon.
A former Windows leader recently discussed a project that promised a 20% reduction in Windows 11âs memory and storage usage.
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The Hot Take: Finally listening to the customers? Nah, this is to quiet them just enough to continue moving to their goals.
'Doze boss admits quality is down, promises smaller memory footprint and fixes for many well-known issues Microsoft has acknowledged that it needs to improve the quality of Windows 11 and outlined its plan to get the job done.âŚ
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The Hot Take: I wonder why given that Windows has gotten bashed for the lack of performance vs Linux.
Microsoft has blocked the registry trick that allowed Windows 11 users to enable a native NVMe driver on their PCs. However, third-party tools can still help with a workaround.
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The Hot Take: Windows getting beat up on Ai, bugs and privacy. I've been playing with the idea on Linux myself, when they keep ratcheting up the intrusiveness gets more enticing by the day.
Yes, Microsoft announced it's fixing common Windows 11 complaints. But what about getting rid of that requirement to have a Microsoft account before installing Windows 11? While Microsoft didn't mention that at all, the senior editor at the blog Windows Central reports there's "a number of people" internally pushing at Microsoft to relax that requirement:
Microsoft Vice President and overall developer legend Scott Hanselman has posted on X in response to someone asking him about possibly relaxing the Microsoft account requirements, saying "Ya I hate that. Working on it...." [Hanselman made that remark Friday, to his 328,200 followers.]
The blog notes "It would be very easy for Microsoft to remove this requirement from a technical perspective, it's just whether or not the company can agree to make the change that needs to be decided."
Elsewhere on X someone told Hanselman they wanted to see Windows "cut out the borderline malware tactics we've seen in recent years to push things like Edge, Bing, ads into the start menu, etc." Hanselman's reply? "Yes a calmer and more chill OS with fewer upsells is a goal."
Q: When will we see first changes? for now it's just words...
Hanselman: This month and every month this year.
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