• Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows at Microsoft, says that Windows 11 is “evolving into an agentic OS”
• There’s been quite a negative reaction to this on social media
• A lot of people are fed up with a lot of things, but the relentless pushing of AI and buzzwords, and lack of attention to the fundamentals of Windows 11, are clear sources of frustration

A top Microsoft exec who heads up Windows has said that the future of the desktop platform is about ‘evolving into an agentic OS’ and pushing forward with AI, and this has provoked a groundswell of negative reaction on various social forums.

Windows Central highlighted a post on X from Pavan Davuluri, who is VP of Windows and Devices at Microsoft.

The key part reads: “Windows is evolving into an agentic OS, connecting devices, cloud, and AI to unlock intelligent productivity and secure work anywhere.”

This follows several similar comments that have filtered through in various recent Microsoft blog posts, or exec soundbites, since the software giant revealed its grand vision to ‘make every Windows 11 PC an AI PC‘ in the future. That means driving ahead with pushing Copilot, new AI features, and voice input (and Mico, a new face for AI in Windows, or to look at it another way, a fresh take on Clippy or Cortana).

That Windows 11 is going to become ‘AI-native’ is another variation of the rhythm in a relentless drumbeat of buzzwords that seem to be pouring forth from Microsoft execs of late – but it’s a tune a lot of Windows users don’t want to dance to by all accounts. Certainly not going by the feedback to that post on X.

Here’s a sample of one of many scathing comments on X: “Pavan, stop. We all hate Windows more with every new version you release. Nobody likes the directions this OS is heading to. Don’t close your eyes and ears for consumer feedback because you already monopolized the market. Make Win 7 great again.”

And when Microsoft is being thanked in the replies in this thread, it seems like it’s from people who are just parroting soundbites back at the company – like “the integration of AI, cloud, and devices sounds like a productivity game-changer” – or thanking the software giant for Windows 11 now giving them the final push to switch to Linux, making them so much happier.

The flak being fired at Microsoft is just as bad on Reddit, as you might imagine. That includes general worries about AI bloat, as well as the possibility of AI agents in Windows 11 being additional attack surfaces that malicious actors might exploit to compromise the user in some way. (Microsoft did address security concerns in its previous revelations about the great movement towards ‘all AI PCs’ in fairness, but still – that’s not likely to soothe the nerves of those counting the number of bugs that’ve cropped up in Windows 11).

Ignore the little guys at your peril, Microsoft

So, first things first, it’s worth making it clear that Davuluri’s comment on X is about Microsoft’s Ignite conference which is for IT professionals and business leaders, so this post is an enterprise topic – but there can be no doubt that this is where Microsoft is heading for all Windows 11 users.

Even if the plans on the business side are more expansive, it’s not like Windows 11 Enterprise is going to be this agentic AI thing, and Windows 11 Home (or Pro) somehow won’t be. In fact, an AI agent is already in Windows 11 Home, the chatbot in Settings (for Copilot+ devices), and more are coming as Microsoft told us in its recent revelations about making every Windows 11 PC an AI PC.

As doubtless hasn’t escaped your attention, the AI revolution has been Microsoft’s main source of hype ever since ChatGPT burst onto the scene and Satya Nadella’s outfit fell over itself to get in on the action. Microsoft has a deeply vested interest in AI, of course, and the AI revolution was initially talked about in terms of Copilot+ PCs with exclusive AI-powered features, but now it’s much more broad strokes of ‘agentic’ AI, the latest buzzword everyone is getting sick of already.

What is an AI agent? For consumers at least, it should be an AI bot that’ll help you do things in Windows based on natural language (and voice) queries, but of course, the fear is that it will become a bot that also tries to sell you things in Windows – namely, Microsoft things (or stuff other firms pay Microsoft to peddle).

And that fear is hardly unfounded as Microsoft has gradually crept forward with more and more annoying upselling efforts in Windows 11 as time has rolled on (and it was already no picnic avoiding this kind of nonsense in Windows 10, before the newer OS pitched up).

As this fresh barrage of feedback on social media indicates, people are getting sick of Microsoft’s various promotions and thinly veiled (or not even veiled at all, “please buy Avowed“) adverts within Windows 11 – an operating system they have already paid for. (All this would be different if Windows was free – but it isn’t, it’s baked into the cost of your prebuilt PC or laptop, or the standalone license).

On top of that, people are frustrated that Microsoft is forging ahead with AI and not fixing the basic things that are wrong with Windows 11. They don’t want an AI agent that can make them a website hanging around in the operating system (although it is a kind of cool idea, admittedly). What they really want is a right-click context menu, or search function, that’s not mysteriously sluggish, or basic functionality like the ability to move the taskbar away from the bottom of the screen (like you can in Windows 10).

Microsoft isn’t listening, though. In the early days of Windows 11, there was something of a promise of taking on board feedback, and working with that to improve the OS, but this philosophy appears to have gone out of the window (or indeed the Windows). Now it feels like a case of you’re getting AI, whether you like it or not (and the shareholders will certainly like it, which is a key irritant for the more cynical here).

Mind you, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with AI – if it’s implemented in a smart and focused way. But if Microsoft can’t get simple things like a right-click menu working smoothly in Windows 11, and it keeps piping through bugs in a seemingly relentless fashion with the OS, it’s little wonder there’s not much confidence that AI will be done right.

Microsoft needs to start making Windows 11 about the little guys – the core consumers using the OS – again, and not about whatever the company needs itself in terms of promoting services, making more money, or impressing shareholders. Especially because right now, it looks like the little guys are tilting towards a tipping point of frustration with Microsoft’s vision for the future of Windows, and lack of attention to the fundamentals of the operating system.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel – ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ – was published by Hachette UK in 2013).