MaxwellsDaemon
Ben Lockwood (broadly defined)Having to force people to use the product they don’t want is surely the litmus test for knowing you’ve created something of value
guenther@benlockwood it's basically windows's success story all over again
genstar.service
Femme Malheureuse
Neville Park@benlockwood Source: this Business Insider article by Ashley Stewart https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-internal-memo-using-ai-no-longer-optional-github-copilot-2025-6
RalfMaximusReading the article, the internal move seems REALLY intended to combat employees using non-Microsoft tools like Cursor. It's kinda like demanding GM employees stop driving Fords.
Still a stupid move, but it does make a kind of twisted mid-level management sense.
noplasticshower@noplasticshower @ralfmaximus @benlockwood i mean, i would go with "simmering white supremacist resentment dating back to Reconstruction" but sure, i guess that's plausible too
crispy branzino ☭ (sold out forever)@benlockwood from the guys who brought you "everything has to run on our shitty cloud platform now" comes "everything has to be regurgitated by our window licking AI slopbot now"
GrendelEveryone's now required to wear the Emperor's New Clothes.
Look how wise and fashionable we are!
Anyone who points out our nakedness is clearly foolish and will be "left behind" (as if that actually means anything)
Greyshley @grendel84 @benlockwood it means we'll still be here after it ends.
Dec [{(
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DJ Sexy Fresh@benlockwood I got in trouble at my former job in 2024 for not installing github copilot. Manager yelled at and insulted me in a 1 on 1 meeting.
DianeI think a better model for corporates orders over AI is it is like corporate ordering people to train their outsourced replacement.
Jake Wood@benlockwood I yearn to return to a world without AI...
mike morris@benlockwood No, no! I think we should fully support and *encourage* Microsoft in this. All the better to hasten their downfall...
Rob@benlockwood same energy as Google pushing their shit A.I on android users, and then making it so that it's working even if you don't want it and have turned it off!
Slow clap Google, slow clap!!
John@benlockwood They got really good at this with Teams
ottO
abbiistabbii 
@benlockwood forcing people to use something they don't want is the marketing strategy for AI (and car companies).
Rynn 🌙 Professional Cyberwitch 🌙@benlockwood I feel like the second protesting Microsoft employee should have thrown less words at Gates, Balmer, and Nadella, and thrown more malatovs
Hauvehahn@benlockwood all employees to use internal AI tools to write their resignation letters :)
Yora@benlockwood Forcing your employees to make worse products for the customers is on a level I truly can not comprehend
Wulfy—Speaker to the machinesI remember being around in the 1980s when they were folks around in the offices who didn't "need" to use computers. Their unwillingness to use computers was considered in their performance reviews. It was not an indication of suitability of otherwise of technology.
It was an indication of their inability to embrace the new tech.
You may not remember Lotus 123 or Database IV but I do.
They were laughably primitive time sinks.
@n_dimension @benlockwood
Luxury!
I remember using Migent Ability, an inflexible all-in-one office suite for DOS that was the cheapest one on the shelf in 1987.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ability_Plus
... and now Im crying.
#nostalgia
@n_dimension @benlockwood
It was functional, but probably the worst office software I have ever used.
My employer at the time cheaped out on it. We ended up replacing it with a set of standalone shareware packages.
A few years later, in another job, we used Open Acess by SPI (DOS, textmode). It was much better in every way, with a powerful relational DB and LAN support.
It had a custom programming language which allowed me to develop and compile standalone DB applications, and release them.
JWcph, Radicalized By Decency@benlockwood imagine telling a carpenter "you have to use the hammer more" - then multiply the stupidity by a million, since a hammer is in fact a proven useful tool..
Tengrain“AVENGE ME,” Mr. Paperclip did not say.
llewelly@benlockwood
old microsoft: make the dog food good enough that staff could eat it.
new microsoft: force feed them
Colin B.🇨🇦@llewelly @benlockwood That was Old Microsoft as well. They've been awful approximately forever, since Bill Gates first stole DOS.
Aylin@benlockwood I'm sure it will improve Microsoft products no end 😉
Jes Moved to @@benlockwood they don't even want to use windows using Ai is a whole nother story
Charley the Cogean@benlockwood
Do you know what this reminds me of most? Zuckerberg telling his team that if they aren't excited about using VR how can they expect their clients to be.
And of course, that kind of top down mandate is why all meetings these days take place in ... oops, no, they don't.
How long until we can say that same about AI? Soon? Please?
rood@Cogean3125 @benlockwood they pushed the VR to military use, AFAIK. Same thing.
@benlockwood Exactly like #Teams!! 😅
Well, no. Actually, is quite worse. 🥺
Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴♂️📷 🗺️Who knew society would go from the maxim being "think for yourself" to "don't you dare think for yourself"
Queen 1066@benlockwood You will assimilate
þēodrīċ, norþes ecghlāford@benlockwood this is me with Wayland
Ham Ninja (Chris Claborne)@benlockwood ask the Microsoft Office guys about that.
Well, Imagine the ruckus if they found out that one developer who was more productive than everyone else was using Linux instead of W...
Martin's pipe dreams