The Absolute Frustration That is Microsoft Copilot

Ah, Microsoft.

Microsoft.

Microsoft.

What were you thinking?

Just this moment, I thought, "Let me give Copilot a go."

I didn't think it would work, because I don't have the $30 extravaganza that is Microsoft Copilot Plus Plus or whatever it's called for my 365 account.

It's right there in Word though.

There is a literal Copilot icon right there in Word.

I had a simple task.

I've got 10 questions in a document. I'd like the numbers removed from each question.

It would save me about 60 seconds of formatting work.

I could throw it into ChatGPT or Claude, but ... this time I thought of Satya and the team and thought, "No, let's give them a chance."

Copilot's answer?

What it means is that I haven't paid for the $30. So it can't 'see' or interact with the Word document at the moment.

Oh dear.

I have paid for the $200/month ChatGPT account and the $100/month Claude subscription.

But the Copilot one? No.

Microsoft wanted me to pay up front for 12 months and I just object to that approach, especially when the Copilot experience is so substandard so often.

I do have a corporate subscription on a completely different account to Copilot. It saved me a good 40 minutes the other week with some smart formatting activity for a piece of work. That did turn my head a little. Which is why I thought I might as well try this activity earlier today – just incase I missed an announcement. Just in case it actually worked.

You've got absolute tip top prime real estate on my desktop apps, Microsoft.

And the only option you're giving me to do any of this kind of document manipulation is pay up front for the year.

Meh. Too much friction. Too much uncertainty.

But look at the revenue you're forgoing from the likes of me? I already have a 365 premium corporate subscription (an individual one for me, so I can readily interact with my Microsoft-using clients). That's $7 a month. Make it a bit more, and give me Copilot with GPT5?

What's quite frustrating is Gemini will do this in my Google accounts. It's already included.

How can it all be such a hot mess, Microsoft?

I recognise I can cut and paste the text into my cheapo version of Copilot and it will do what I want. Then I can cut and paste it back. But what, dear Team Microsoft, is the point of that, when I'm already (like so many millions of others) doing this with ChatGPT and Claude anyway? Surely you shouldn't be introducing even more friction into the process?

Or is the misunderstanding on my part?

Is it me, being silly?

Do I just need to get over myself and pay the annual fee?