Microsoft 365 was rebranded as Microsoft 365 Copilot, stirring confusion for everyone

Microsoft just wants to boost the Copilot branding across the board

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Microsoft 365 was rebranded as Microsoft 365 Copilot

According to a pretty obscure Microsoft blog announcement, the Microsoft 365 (Office) app is now called the Microsoft 365 Copilot app across web, mobile (iOS, Android), and Windows. Imagine the surprise on millions of user’s faces when they discovered that the app name had been suddenly changed with the Copilot suffix even though many of them didn’t use or want to use Copilot in their office apps.

The app renaming started to roll out on January 15, and Microsoft also changed the web URL to m365.cloud.microsoft to align with Microsoft’s broader unified cloud.microsoft domain for all Microsoft 365 apps.

This name change might seem harmless, but for system administrators, it can be a headache.

One user commented on the sysadmin thread on Reddit about this problem:

This is particularly strange to me as Copilot is a separate paid function. You can still use all the Office apps without Copilot if you want to. Now users will be presented with Copilot and the related icon even though our company doesn’t wish to invest in this new feature yet.

Maybe if they were giving Copilot away for free with all the different licenses available, it would make sense. Something tells me that Microsoft isn’t going to add Copilot to our Business Premium licenses for nothing.

The only thing I can say for Microsoft is that they know companies like mine are unlikely to bail on the product just because we don’t like the new brand name. It’s just that we have to explain to our users that it’s a Microsoft branding change and that we haven’t actually provided them with Copilot to use. Source: Reddit

Has anything really changed in Microsoft 365 Copilot?

So, the real problem lies in the fact that even though the app is now called Microsoft 365 Copilot, it doesn’t readily provide Copilot for free.

However, in the announcement, Microsoft clears that problem out. If you have a Microsoft 365 license and a work account, you will get Copilot Chat for no additional cost. However, if you have a personal account, Copilot Chat will also be provided soon.

Copilot Chat is available to users with a Microsoft 365 license at no additional cost and users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Copilot Chat in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app is coming soon for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers (primary account holders only). Copilot Chat will not be available for users without a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.

You might also confuse Copilot for Microsoft 365 which is the specialized Copilot AI integration in the office apps with Microsoft 365 Copilot, the new name for Microsoft 365.

So, nothing has really changed for Microsoft’s office suite. They only want to emphasize the fact that soon, they will include Copilot for Microsoft 365 for every license owner without additional costs. And, of course, Microsoft also wants to boost the Copilot brand as aggressively as possible across the board. There’s also news about the addition of Copilot Analytics in Microsoft 365 Copilot. But that’s another story.

I can see why changing the name of an app used by hundreds of millions of people can cause headaches, but I hope that after reading this piece, you learned what the whole rebranding is all about. Let’s talk about the Microsoft 365 Copilot rebranding in the comments below.

More about the topics: Microsoft 365, Microsoft copilot

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