Microsoft is once again calling on Windows developers to transform their applications with artificial intelligence. But a challenge awaits him, as difficult as the one he unsuccessfully tried to persuade to port his apps to Windows Phone a decade ago.

Without a strong app ecosystem, Microsoft’s dream of leading the AI ​​revolution on PCs may fade as it did on mobile phones; However, native applications are not as important on computers as they are on mobile phones.

Because this is important. If Microsoft wants to strengthen its position and move away from Apple and macOS, it needs developers to adopt AI tools for Windows in a big way.

Without applications that take advantage of the AI ​​capabilities of new Copilot+ computers, Windows’ value proposition will be weakened. And users will have less incentive to buy these laptops.

Deja vu. Over the last decade, Microsoft has tried to attract developers with its universal platform (UWP) for apps on smartphones, PCs and Xbox. Fault.

Windows Phone lacked key apps from iOS and Android. Most of what was there was of poor quality. Without an attractive catalog, users would not buy Nokias with Windows Phone. And without users, developers did not find it profitable to create applications.

• Microsoft gave up on smartphones in 2017, losing billions of dollars of investment there. It has never exceeded the 3% global quota.

Experiment with AI. Microsoft offers a catalog of AI tools so developers can build Windows applications without having to rewrite them. The kit includes OCR, automatic translation, audio transcription, visual effects… Or the ‘Recall’ function, as well as the possibility of using the new NPU to accelerate AI.

It’s still very early, but very few external developers have shown off the apps these new features transform. According to this BorderOnly a few demos, such as Djay or DaVinci Resolve, showed the use of the Copilot+ PCs’ NPU for AI tasks. There are no big concrete plans.

Challenge. For Windows AI to take off, Microsoft needs mass adoption of its tools by key developers as quickly as possible. The risk, as with UWP, is that developers may find adapting their apps to be an unprofitable endeavor.

Despite lessons learned the hard way from Windows Phone, Microsoft has yet to prove that it can create a meaningful ecosystem around a new technology.

No one doubts its abilities to create a desktop operating system. suit room An enterprise or cloud powered by a deal with OpenAI, but the ecosystem is another matter.

Current tools appear to be more cost-effective than Windows Phone, but the traumatic end to the mobile attack makes it clear that Redmond cannot afford another debacle. And now Nadella is in charge.

Featured image | Microsoft, Xataka

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