"The new Copilot app for Windows 11 is really just Microsoft Edge"

https://twitter.com/TheBobPony/status/2041112541909205001

65•bundie•2h ago

Comments

BoredPositron•1h ago

That's hilarious. I wonder how many edge versions are deployed in a standard install.

snitch182•1h ago

And how many chromiums in general...

steve1977•3m ago

It's chromiums all the way down.

elwray•1h ago

wow. I wonder how this was found out originally?

snitch182•1h ago

First thought: 'i wonder what the app is made from'. Followed by looking at the exe in a hex editor... Oh that looks like edge .. renaming the file and the rest is HN history

layer8•56m ago

See https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/04/05/new-copilot-for-win....

kstrauser•1h ago

Is that like MS’s version of an Electron app? Aren’t most Electron apps just Chrom{e,ium} plus some JS to run inside it?

Asking seriously, not snarkily. That’s my understanding but maybe I’m wrong about it.

Normal_gaussian•1h ago

Electron is NodeJS + Chromium + Some native control APIs (trays/menus/shortcuts/window management) + update & packaging.

So a lot more can be done with an electron app, while still staying mostly in the web based comfort zone.

FuriouslyAdrift•55m ago

Microsoft switched from Electron to their own WebView2 a while ago.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview...

cogman10•33m ago

Main difference, electron bundles all of chrome with every app. WebView2 can do that, but the recommended route is one that shares the runtime across multiple apps (what ms does). So you end up with just 1 webview2 on the system + your app specific code ultimately significantly shrinking the distribution size.

steve1977•6m ago

MSHTML.dll reborn

fortran77•1h ago

Every electron app is really just a browser, isn't it?

ygra•1h ago

So, like edit.com and QBasic. What is old is new again.

eliasson•1h ago

Wait. What? Was that the case? Young me never realised that! =)

rob74•30m ago

Except that was done to save disk space (according to https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/063/Q63777/, "When EDIT.COM is executed in MS-DOS versions 5.0 and later, it invokes QBASIC.EXE with the /EDITOR switch", whereas this installs a whole new copy of the Edge browser (850 MB) on a system where in 90+% of cases it's already installed...

rbanffy•17m ago

Someone has their bonus tied to how many copies of Edge are installed.

JanneVee•1h ago

If I was to speculate, this is the result of "rank n' yank" where the performative productivity is more important than actual productivity. If true it says something about why AI is pushed hard by Microsoft, it make performative productivity much more easier.

steve1977•4m ago

You cannot really use most Copilot products for actual productivity, even if you wanted to.

Last time I checked, Copilot in Outlook did not have access to my calendar data.

zamadatix•1h ago

One of the comments led to an article which really goes into the details of what exactly is packaged here https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/04/05/new-copilot-for-win...

heliumtera•1h ago

Any webpage you see is really just chromium. All new product you see from today startups are really just post request to the cheapest inference provider

nchmy•1h ago

I used edge ever since it was chromium-based, but I moved to linux and vivaldi 6 months ago and never looked back.

aquir•1h ago

this is hilarious! I wish I was a fly on the wall when this decision was made...

layer8•1h ago

More informative article: https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/04/05/new-copilot-for-win...

It seems to actually use a modified copy of Edge in a subfolder.

seemaze•38m ago

It's worse than that. On my corporate mac when I try to login with Entra, the only option I get is a hyperlink to 'experience Copilot on the web'.

Also, it seems like all the Copilot 'connected experiences' are really just a chat window without any real integration with the applications they are embedded in. Claude is more useful in Excel than Copilot.. how? Microsoft's consistently incoherent and hobbled rollout of Copilot is why I find Anthropic's offerings so much better. It just allow me to get stuff done.

My one hope was that Copilot would solve the Microsoft documentation tarpit by leveraging enormous context to root out the answers to my questions. When chatGPT can finally one-shot Microsoft product queries with the correct platform, release, license, and 'gotchas'.. I'll know we've hit AGI.

hagbard_c•22m ago

> When chatGPT can finally one-shot Microsoft product queries with the correct platform, release, license, and 'gotchas'.. I'll know we've hit AGI.

In that case a simple few lines of whatever language you prefer would class as "AGI". Here's a sample session using the non-existing oracle.sh tool;

   oracle.sh 'tell me how to do ${thing} in Microsoft ${product} and which licence requirements that brings'
 
   (computer noises)

   oracle: Avoid using Microsoft ${product}, use one of the alternatives listed in this web search: 

      https://search.engine.org/search?q=alternatives%20to%20Microsoft%20${product}

Ciantic•19m ago

What is the reason they don't use the WebView2? Microsoft Teams uses WebView2, surely it should be enough for Copilot. This defeats the whole point of having WebView builtin and shipped with the Windows 11.

BorisMelnik•13m ago

why does Microsoft just not listen to its people

OnionBlender•2m ago

I'm forced to use Copilot at work. I can't resize the font size and there is usually a delay when typing in it for the first time. In Outlook, it often opens the side panel on its own.