If you've been out of the loop about Microsoft's recent changes to Office, I hate to break it to you, but it's no longer Office. Rather, it's still Office in the sense that it was Word and Excel and the like, but it's no longer called "Office." Microsoft has performed a sweeping rebrand, changing the productivity suite's name to " Microsoft 365 Copilot." This also included a logo change from the Microsoft 365 icon to one that looks like Copilot's but has a little "M365" at the bottom right.

I admit, these changes by themselves aren't a huge deal. Companies rebrand their services all the time, and Microsoft is no different. It's more why the company made these changes that make me concerned about Microsoft 365's future. So, here are some reasons I'll be canceling my subscription.

3 Microsoft 365's rebrand hints that it's becoming a "Copilot first" application

AI first, productivity second

So, let's consider why Microsoft bothered to perform this rebrand. I mean, it's not like Office hasn't had rebrands before, so it's not like Microsoft is messing with a decades-old tradition. But still, why go through the potential risk of confusing the end-user by both renaming the app and changing its icon to look near-identical to Copilot's?

I get the feeling that Microsoft wants Copilot to be at the forefront of people's minds when they use their PC. If you want to find something, you don't use the Search bar; you ask Copilot to find it for you. If you want to search online, you don't open a browser; you open Copilot and ask it to find things for you.

This change makes me believe that Microsoft wants you to think of Copilot when you want to get work done. Arguably, Microsoft can state that it has the framework down for this, with all of the Copilot-enhanced features it added to Office over the past year. As such, there's a good chance the company's new focus for Microsoft 365 Copilot involves developing AI tools that do the job for you.

2 I'm really not a fan of AI in productivity suites

More of a hindrance than anything

This would be all well and good if I actually thought of using Copilot when I wanted to get work done. However, I really, really don't. I mean, sure, I admit that Copilot can take a lot of the legwork out of making a report or a presentation, but something about the end result feels pretty clinical. And that's not considering how the AI can sometimes get stuff wrong, so even if it does all the heavy lifting, you still need to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb to ensure it hasn't said or done anything embarrassing.

In fact, even if Copilot was excellent at doing the job for you, I'd still feel uneasy about using it. What good is having an AI make your presentation if you can't answer questions about it? If I'm doing work, I want to ensure I have control over every element so nothing strange makes its way in.

As such, if Microsoft wants to make its 365 suite more of a "Copilot first" experience, I can imagine myself really disliking it. Microsoft is already scrapping long-standing features in lieu of Copilot, and it's not going to get any better.

1 There are so many free alternatives without an AI focus

No need to make do with Microsoft 365 Copilot

As such, my main focus now is finding a productivity suite that doesn't put AI at the forefront. Google's range of apps like Docs and Sheets works fine right now, but there's always the possibility that there will be a big Gemini rollout akin to the Microsoft 365 Copilot rebrand. My best bet will be to use one of the many Office alternatives out there to fill in the gap. Failing that, it seems that the Office 2024 suite doesn't have Copilot, so I could grab that instead.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is when I call it quits

Microsoft has been going big with AI in recent months, and I know some people who find the tools invaluable for getting work done. However, I really don't want AI creating things on my behalf, and with Microsoft 365 Copilot's gradual focus on using AI tools, I think I'll duck out now and use something else.