Microsoft Outlook Gets a Major AI-Powered Overhaul with New Leadership

The company aims to rebuild its email software from the ground up, rather than simply adding AI features to old experiences. Gaurav Sareen, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Global Experiences and Platforms, is now taking direct leadership of the Outlook team. Sareen envisions Outlook transforming into a personal assistant, acting as a "physical proxy" for the user, reading messages, drafting replies, and organizing time. This vision requires the Outlook team to accelerate its pace of work, with weekly feature experiments expected instead of quarterly, and prototyping and testing in days rather than months.

Microsoft has not been a stranger to challenges in updating Outlook. Years ago, it began developing a "one" web-based email client to replace existing Windows, Mac, and web versions. However, it faced difficulties in perfecting it and making it live up to the current desktop applications it was trying to replace. Now, Sareen is urging employees to be "brave" and abandon "old ways of working" and move forward instead of waiting. Transforming an email client relied upon by millions of Microsoft's most important customers with unproven AI features will be a much bigger task.

These changes come amidst a broader AI-centric reorganization at Microsoft. Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, took on an expanded role as head of the Office division earlier this year as part of a major reshuffle focused on AI. Sareen reports to Roslansky, who leads the Office, Outlook, and Microsoft 365 Copilot app teams. The biggest challenge for Roslansky and Sareen is convincing Microsoft employees that rebuilding Outlook for AI is the right path. Many Microsoft employees have expressed skepticism about the company's AI efforts and investments. However, Outlook's leadership at Microsoft is not shying away from thinking big. Sareen states, "Next year, every product will claim to be AI-native. But there will be teams that just put AI on products and make buzzword-filled claims. And there will be teams that have rebuilt their products and culture from the ground up to make that a reality. I'm betting my leadership that we will be that team."

Microsoft's Rejected Office Icons

Microsoft revealed its new curved and colorful Office icons, as well as experimental designs that were not adopted. Some concepts were completely different from what is currently being rolled out, with design explorations for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint resembling past Office for Mac icons.

Microsoft Moves Surface Manufacturing Out of China

With escalating trade tensions between the US and China, Microsoft is preparing to move manufacturing of its Surface laptops and tablets out of China. This move aims to help with future Surface device and server product pricing, and Microsoft is also pushing to produce more Xbox consoles outside of China.

Xbox Ally and Ally X Review: Not a True Xbox Device

Microsoft's first portable Xbox devices are shipping incomplete. Many users feel these devices are a beta version of Microsoft's grand ambitions to integrate Xbox and Windows.

The full-screen Xbox experience is a good first step, but it feels like just an Xbox app running on Windows. As soon as a user needs to launch a Steam game or a system update app, they are transported into a Windows world that doesn't seem ready for such a device. Users want Microsoft to port all core Xbox OS features to this handheld device and make Windows disappear as much as possible.

Windows 11 Can Now Automatically Switch Between Light and Dark Mode Thanks to PowerToy

Using a Microsoft PowerToy, Windows 11 can now automatically switch between light and dark mode based on a schedule or at sunrise and sunset. The new Light Switch PowerToy is similar to the Auto Dark Mode app that has been around for years and can also be used to determine whether to automatically switch the interface, applications, or both.

Microsoft Wants You to Talk to Your Computer and Let AI Take Control

Microsoft may not be ready to announce Windows 12 yet, but it is clearly aiming to turn every Windows 11 PC into an AI-powered computer controlled by Copilot and spoken to by users. Last week, the company launched Copilot Vision and Copilot Voice capabilities for all Windows 11 PCs, in an attempt to convince people to talk to their devices and allow AI to take control of them.

There is an impressive advertising campaign accompanying this latest effort, but many users are not convinced it will do much to improve Copilot's usability or make people talk to it. Microsoft has tried and failed to get people to talk to their devices using Cortana, and although Copilot is far more capable, people still opt for ChatGPT instead. OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest partner and its biggest competitor in what comes next.

Emergency Windows 11 Update from Microsoft Fixes Critical System Restore Bug

Microsoft is now rolling out an out-of-band fix for Windows 11 to address a major bug introduced by the company in its last monthly Windows 11 update. The original update, released on October 14, accidentally disabled the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), preventing people from using a USB mouse or keyboard to restore their PCs or reset them to factory settings. This is a significant problem if a user cannot properly restore their PC, so Microsoft quickly released a fix in less than a week. This is the second time in months that Microsoft has had to issue an emergency patch for a faulty Windows 11 update.

Anthropic Connects Claude to Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive

Anthropic and Microsoft are increasingly collaborating on AI models and services. Anthropic is integrating its AI assistant Claude with Microsoft 365 services so it can view content from Word documents, Teams messages, and Outlook emails in conversations with the chatbot. This integration comes just weeks after Microsoft adopted Anthropic AI models to enhance its Microsoft 365 applications. Anthropic models also power a new Office Agent capable of generating Word and PowerPoint documents.

Even Xbox Dev Kits Get a Major Price Hike

After raising prices for Xbox consoles and subscriptions, Microsoft is now increasing the price of its Xbox Development Kit (XDK). The current Xbox Development Kit is going from $1500 to $2000, a 33 percent increase. This percentage closely matches the Trump administration's 30 percent tariff on imports from China. Microsoft blames "macroeconomic developments" for the development kit price changes, but it's hard to blame only Trump's tariffs when Xbox development kit prices are rising worldwide. While independent developers who want to self-publish their games can apply for ID@Xbox and get free development kits, price increases for everyone else come as Microsoft prepares for next-generation Xbox devices.

Proposed Addition

In the context of the challenges Microsoft faces in updating Outlook, it is important to note that Microsoft's history is full of significant product transformations. For example, the company faced similar challenges when transitioning from the MS-DOS operating system to Windows, which also required "courage" and abandoning "old ways of working" to ensure success (Source: Wikipedia - History of Microsoft Windows). This shows that Microsoft has a track record of overcoming radical change obstacles in its core products.

The initiative to integrate AI into Outlook comes at a time when the software market is experiencing fierce competition in personal AI assistants. According to a report by Grand View Research in January 2024, the global virtual assistant market size is projected to grow significantly, driven by increased adoption of AI across various industries. This growth underscores the importance of transforming Outlook into an AI-powered personal assistant to keep pace with developments and meet user expectations.

Furthermore, Sareen's call for employees to be "brave" and abandon "old ways of working" reflects the culture of innovation Microsoft seeks to instill. This concept is not new to major tech companies; companies like Apple have focused on radical innovation in their product development, often requiring abandoning traditional methods in favor of new solutions (Source: Harvard Business Review - The Innovation Secrets of Apple). This confirms that radical changes in Outlook could be key to future success.

The October 2024 update for Windows 11 that fixed a critical system restore bug highlights the importance of thorough testing of updates before release. In 2023, a survey by Statista showed that software issues and bugs are among the most common problems faced by businesses worldwide, underscoring the necessity for Microsoft to adhere to high-quality standards to ensure operating system stability.