By Jim Lundy
The Secret About CoPilots Microsoft Didn’t Reveal at Ignite
There is a secret that Microsoft isn’t telling about Microsoft CoPilot which reached general availability on November 1st and was highlighted and showed off at Microsoft Ignite this week in Bellevue.
What is Microsoft Being Secretive about CoPilot?
You could call this great marketing or a clever distraction from the truth.
The truth is that Microsoft CoPilot is only available for enterprises. That is what they said at their CoPilot Briefing two weeks ago. It is also what they said onstage and in writing this week. But what they DIDN’T say is that Microsoft CoPilot is not available for everyone else.
The link to the Microsoft CoPilot availability info is here.
Why is Microsoft CoPilot Only Available for Large Enterprises?
Aragon Research feels that the reason Microsoft is not telling the full story is because they are still testing CoPilot.
In essence, their large customers are helping them train the CoPilot. So, in a way, CoPilot for Microsoft 365 isn’t ready to see the light of day. We also say this because at the CoPilot briefing, they would not even commit to a general release date in the future.
How to Get Access to Microsoft CoPilot: If You Are Not an Enterprise Customer
One way to get your hands on a version of Microsoft CoPilot is to work with the growing list of Microsoft CoPilot partners that they showed onstage at Microsoft Ignite this week. One of them is a Sales Enablement provider Bigtincan.
For the rest of us, Microsoft now says that Bing Chat is now Microsoft CoPilot. It is available to Microsoft 365 users that have Windows or Bing. That is it for now.
To access it, you need to go to Copilot.Microsoft.com and log in (Note: Google Bard is also available to all GMail users). There is no other news about the Microsoft 365 Copilot availability.
Figure 1: Microsoft’s new positioning for basic Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Google Duet is Available for Google Workspace
It’s important to point out that Google Duet for Google Workspace is available to licensed customers but they have to pay $30 per user per month. So, Google did live up to its shipment commitment.
However, Artega said both Google Duet in Microsoft Copilot still need more development and that may be the reason my willingness to pay just isn’t there in a tight economy.
Bottom Line
There’s lots more to cover about Microsoft Ignite news this week and will be doing that in a separate block.
In the meantime, unless you have a Microsoft enterprise account, don’t count on any availability of Microsoft 365 Copilot in the near future. Once more enterprises do a lot more testing/training, we expect to see a better, Microsoft, 365 copilot emerge in 2024.
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