Contrary to expectations, Microsoft did not release the 23H2 version of Windows 11 on September 26. Instead, they rolled out a peculiar intermediate update with some new features… and without Copilot, the famous AI-powered assistant.
We’ve been saying it for months: Microsoft does anything with Windows 11 . And it’s obviously not about to stop. Thus, during a back-to-school presentation with great fanfare only a few days ago, the publisher had promised the arrival of a major version, the famous 23H2 – 23 for 2023 and H2 for the second half of the year – with a large batch of new features and improvements. On its official website, the Redmond firm had even published the menu, promising nearly 150 new functions, including the introduction of Copilot, its new AI-powered assistant. The date was even indicated in plain text: September 26. By a curious coincidence, it was also the day chosen by Apple to release macOS 14 Sonoma, the new version of its operating system for Mac – a simple meeting of great minds?
Windows 11 KB5030310: A Simple Intermediate Update
However, if the new Apple OS arrived on Tuesday, September 26 at the said time (see our article), there was no trace of the new great version of Windows 11 in Windows Update – or anywhere else. Contrary to what some of our colleagues had announced prematurely in recent weeks, no 23H2 version on the horizon. Instead, an update in “preview” mode: a Build 22621.2361 simply stamped KB5030310 in Microsoft terminology – poetry, when you hold us…
Needless to say, the news rather disappointed specialists. Especially since this Build does not really shine by its wonders. The main improvement highlighted by Microsoft is the arrival of custom websites in the Recommended section of the Start menu. “This update introduces websites to the Recommended section of the Start menu. These websites will be personalized for you and come from your browsing history. This allows you to quickly access the websites that are important to you. You can remove any website URL from the Recommended section using the context menu. To disable the feature, go to Settings > Personalization > Start,” explains the publisher in its release notes. In other words, a function that does the same thing as bookmarks or the home page of a browser? Wow!
And the rest of the “novelties” presented are of the same ilk, with especially many corrections of problems concerning, pell-mell, the search button, the sleep mode, a bug of Excel when sharing PDF in Outlook (sic!), or the calendar and iCloud contacts. The list of improvements mentioned is as short as it is edifying: let’s just point out the support for daylight saving time changes in Greenland, the change of spelling of the capital of Ukraine from Kiev to Kyiv – it’s all true. No doubt, Microsoft sells dreams!
But the best joke remains the absence of Copilot, whose integration had been officially promised a few days earlier. No need to load it after installing the update: it is not there! “Copilot in Windows will premiere in select global markets as part of the latest Windows 11 update. Initial markets for the Copilot preview in Windows include North America and parts of Asia and South America. We intend to add more markets over time,” reads a discreet note from Microsoft. Otherwise: wait your turn!
Windows 11: Is there a Copilot in the version?
As you can see, this update is not up to what was expected from Microsoft. No question of sulking it, even if there is no urgency to install it – it is also often more prudent, to avoid wiping some very dirty casts … Especially since, very curiously, it integrates some of the new features planned for 23H2, such as the settings home screen – which presents information and settings in so-called interactive sections or the new version of Paint – which allows you to automatically remove the background from an image, like some professional software . But Microsoft says absolutely nothing about it in its official note: it is no longer understandable!
This new episode illustrates Microsoft’s lack of rigor in the development of Windows 11, especially when compared to Apple’s strategy with macOS, much more readable. From the start, the publisher took its feet in the carpet that it had woven itself by presenting its system as revolutionary when it is simply an evolved version of Windows 10 – which it was originally.
More seriously, Microsoft immediately cut itself off from a good part of its potential users by imposing incomprehensible hardware requirements – both for compatible processors and for the presence of a specialized chip, the famous TPM 2.0 – effectively prohibiting the installation of this new Windows on old PCs. And, since then, the publisher has constantly blurred the tracks by multiplying updates and scattering the novelties of its flagship system to the point of losing the faithful as well as the experts. It is high time to restore order, simplicity, and readability in the evolution of Windows.
