windowscentral[.]com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-has-made-it-impossible-to-be-a-fan
windowscentral[.]com/microsoft/report-microsofts-2025-layoffs-revolve-around-its-desperate-usd80-billion-ai-infrastructure-investment
Or Xbox for that matter, or Game Pass, or 365 [Office] etc. The CEO, Nadella, got a $79 million stock awards package last year -- Microsoft execs get paid to make investors happy, Not You. And what makes investors happy is anything that might make the stock price increase. When Win11 came out, its hardware requirements, along with the end of Win10, at least in theory *might* have led to a big increase in PC/laptop sales. Microsoft makes money on each copy of Windows on every new Windows PC/laptop, so investors would hopefully think Microsoft's going to make a bunch of money and buy more Microsoft stock, expecting its value to increase. And of course if stock sales increase, so does the stock price. That same logic led to Copilot+ laptops. Just like it doesn't matter that Win11, or Linux runs just fine on those older PCs & laptops, it didn't matter that the Copilot+ marketing campaign was a flop -- their purpose was just to build investor interest in Microsoft stock. And that in a nutshell is why Microsoft's all about AI.
It doesn't matter if Windows sucks, or if users abandon it for Linux, at least in the short term, because investors don't look at that stuff. Investors do look at Microsoft's efforts and degree of success with AI, and some fear that Microsoft is falling behind. At least in the US, execs believe that the secret to advancing in AI is to spend more money. Now Microsoft's got plenty of cash, and access to Much more, but investors look at a corporation's cash flow, and using any of that money *might* cause some investor concerns. So Microsoft went for a twofer -- fire enough employees to free up $80 billion they can then spend on AI. To investors, firing employees is always good, because it cuts cost, and spending $80 billion on AI is another plus.
Some of the poor folks who got the axe were in sales, which won't matter to you & me, but lots more were people responsible for the stuff we do use.
Personally I'm optimistic Longer term, though I've been known to engage in wistful thinking, sometimes overmuch. If gaming on Linux continues to take off, *maybe* the idea of paying for software won't be an oddity in the Linux communities. And if Linux folks don't mind, or in some [many?] cases expect to pay for software, then just maybe devs will start writing for Linux as well as, or hopefully / eventually instead of Windows. Shorter term, rumors / leaks have it that Apple is going to release a laptop to compete pricewise with the most often sold Windows laptops.
windowscentral[.]com/microsoft/windows-11/apple-making-cheap-macbook-bad-news-for-windows