[bigfatkitten]

> At some point, they need to stop asking "can we add this feature?" and start asking "does this text editor need a network-aware rendering stack?"

They didn’t stop there. They also asked “does this need AI?” and came up with the wrong answer.

[ThrowawayB7]

If I had to guess, the mandate to cram AI in everywhere came down from Nadella and the executive level with each level of management having KPIs for AI in their product all the way down. Much like the "everything has to be .NET even though nobody has any idea what .NET means" when it was first introduced and every MS product suddenly sprouted .NET at the end of their names. When executive management gives stupid non-negotiable orders, they get stupid results.

[vachina]

AI is useful but these management type typically don’t know how to make it useful.

[bigfatkitten]

I’m all for AI integrated into applications where it makes sense; “remove background” buttons in image editors, for example, where the application uses AI to perform a useful function, without the user needing to care what happened under the hood.

Microsoft’s product managers however have no imagination, and so they insist on just mindlessly shoving obnoxious Copilot buttons everywhere.

[FridgeSeal]

That’s why they spend all their time on LinkedIn creating “7 levels of ai readiness” instead of…actually doing anything productive and useful.

[bigstrat2003]

Now imagine that you are someone who doesn't even think AI is useful, and imagine just how much more infuriating it is to have it crammed in. Drives me up a wall.

[sneak]

It’s just resumé driven development. Corporate droids gotta justify their salaries somehow. It doesn’t pay to call software “done”.

[ThrowawayB7]

Individual developers or even developer management doesn't get much of a say in product direction at large corporations. The product management folks are who decide what features go in and when.

[GuinansEyebrows]

PMs have resumes too :)

- Successfully led key efforts to modernize aging platform technologies

- Directed integration of cutting-edge system-wide artificial intelligence functionality

[zerkten]

Even if you talk to users, you can do it the wrong way. Big companies are incentivized by the stock market to care more about new users than existing ones because their only focus is growth. Growth can't be rooted in your existing users is a common feeling in product management circles. If you try to do things for people other than your existing users, then you end up doing odd stuff that at best is a mild annoyance. More likely you hurt their ability to continue using the app.

[wlesieutre]

Exemplified by every website with a massive SIGN UP button and then a little 8 pt font log in tucked away somewhere underneath.

Gee thanks for helping me find the button I'll use literally once and making me hunt for the one I'll need the other 99999 times I use this service.

Existing users can go fuck themselves as long as new people are registering. Line go up!

[bradfitz]

I can’t tell you how relieving it is to hear somebody else complain about this. This has been my pet peeve for ages.

[whatsupdog]

Unjustified downvoting. You absolutely have a point. Not just software, also the gazillion UI/UX designers. They keep moving things around and changing colors and fucking things up just to justify their salaries. Case in point: Google maps. It was perfect 15 years ago. We don't need vomit inducing color changes every 2 years

[cyanydeez]

Microsoft is driving AI adoption. Why blame tge workers for this?

[wormpilled]

Why can't Indian software developers stand up for themselves and say no?

[onion2k]

Because there are plenty of developers who'll say yes, so anyone saying no is putting their ethics ahead of their livelihood. Few people will be willing to put their beliefs ahead of providing for their family.

It's easy to say you will, and very hard to actually do it.

[eterm]

That's what ethics are. If you don't make sacrifices for them they aren't ethics they're just conveniences.

[trinix912]

This is easy to say until you're an immigrant worker in a foreign country - something one probably worked for their entire life up to that point - risking it all (and potentially wrecking the life of their entire family) just to stop some random utility from having a Copilot button. It's not "this software will be used to kill people", it's more like "there's this extra toolbar which nobody uses".

In life you have to choose your battles.

[optymizer]

"why won't other people make sacrifices for me?"

Because the society in US is arranged as a competition with no safety net and where your employer has a disproportionate amount of influence on your well being and the happiness of your kids.

I'm not going to give up $1M in total comp and excellent insurance for my family because you and I don't like where AI is going.

[appreciatorBus]

You can say exactly the same thing about the management and the shareholders. If they say no, someone else will say yes, so why blame them?

[optymizer]

Your solution for us to all agree to do the same thing is not realistic for the same reason that recycling doesn't really work, why we have a myriad of programming languages and similar but incompatible hardware, etc.

There is always someone who will take advantage of the prisoners dilemma.

[onion2k]

They make the decision about what to say yes to. They can choose to do something else without it impacting their individual circumstances.

[mghackerlady]

It's a cultural thing. They'd much rather do what they think someone means than question authority

[vachina]

Hard to say no to paycheck

[throwpoaster]

Microsoft is comprised of its workers.

[jdsampayo]

All workers are equal, but some workers are more equal than others

[stalfosknight]

I have been thinking about this Animal Farm quote a lot recently.

[jahsome]

And yet, if they were raising a Series A, they'd be lauded as "disruptors"

[cameron_b]

By some

Some of us were impressionable when Jurassic Park came out.

[jahsome]

The vast majority of hn commentors, I'd wager.

[tombert]

It is a bit odd that they basically took one of Microsoft’s most universally hated features (Clippy) and then decided “let’s put this into literally every part of the OS”.

[est]

I think they came up the the exact right answer like:

> How do I add more features to get a promotion

[psychoslave]

But can it generate qrcode already?