Windows 2030: Microsoft predicts agentic AI OS will replace mouse and keyboard

[midian182]

Forward-looking: What will Windows look like in five years? Unsurprisingly, Microsoft believes that AI will play an integral role. The company has published a video called Windows 2030 Vision in which it foresees the default interaction method with the OS being natural language. Microsoft says this will make "mousing around and keyboarding around and typing" in 2030 feel as alien as using DOS does to Gen Z today.

David Weston, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Enterprise & Security, is interviewed for what looks like the first in a series of Windows 2030 Vision videos.

Weston's first prediction is that in five years, companies will be able to hire AI agents to act as security experts. These will behave like real people, with co-workers talking to them on Teams, joining meetings, etc.

As we hear every time that an AI looks set to replace a person's job, Weston says the agentic AI will take over the "toil" work and allow humans to focus on other tasks – hopefully, not looking for a new job.

"I think we will do less with our eyes and more talking to our computers," Weston says.

"I truly believe the future version of Windows and other Microsoft operating systems will interact in a multimodal way. The computer will be able to see what we see, hear what we hear, and we can talk to it and ask it to do much more sophisticated things." The exec claimed this is a much more natural form of communication.

Microsoft has invested more into AI than most companies, from the $13 billion+ it has poured into OpenAI, to the $650 million Inflection AI deal. It's why Redmond continues to ram more and more AI features into every product under its roof, regardless of whether people want them.

The thought of an agentic AI Windows OS that carries out voice instructions will likely make many people groan – the video currently has more dislikes than likes – but whether it really does happen by 2030 is debatable.

Microsoft made a lot of lofty promises ahead of Copilot's arrival, but, like Copilot+ laptops, it hasn't lived up to some of these early claims.

Microsoft also has a history of boasting about how amazing an AI feature will be only to find it receives so much backlash that the company has to pull or alter it – the screenshot-capturing Recall saga, for example, is still ongoing.

The idea that mouse and keyboard inputs will become as archaic as altering batch files in DOS by 2030 seems highly unlikely. Maybe one day it will happen, but five years is a stretch.

Permalink to story:

Windows 2030: Microsoft predicts agentic AI OS will replace mouse and keyboard

 

[GeoffreyA]

That they're talking about Windows 2030 suggests they're getting ready to sweep the ME-inspired 11 under the carpet.

The keyboard and mouse are more efficient than talking, which puts a heavy, distributed load on the brain. Talking isn't practical in many environments. As usual, they're using anti-modernisation shaming to sell their nonsense idea.

All Microsoft has got to do is blend XP, 7, and 10, brought up to date with the latest security and infrastructure, restore full user control, and they'll achieve acclaim. The GUI wheel was invented a long time ago. Going from a circle to a square is not progress.

 

[themastergoose]

Did someone from Microsoft really come out and say that AI removes the toil of work and they (humans) will not need to look for new jobs?

The same company that a few weeks back fired thousands of developers and told them to use AI to find their next job.

 

[dangh]

They can't wait to get full access to mic and cameras in order to get more training ai materials. And what worse, many people will be happy with big corpos / govs having access to all details of our life just in exchange for little convenience. I wonder how we will get out of that rabbit hole on the next century. French revolution won't happen again if people will be feed propaganda by agentic ai, as we already can see in China. Shortly, we all will be getting citizen score. Anyone, who write 'president is dump' will be kicked out of country. wait...

 

[Coisa]

I don't see a world being better because machines are smarter than humans. Microsoft is using coercion to force upgrades of perfectly functional PC's to Windows 11. Your PC doesn’t have the tech currency(?) which is decided by MS, for Windows 11? Spend money on a new PC! No security upgrades after October? Extended upgrades for a year if allow MS to back-up to their cloud? This tactic is likely bait and switch – after a year it’ll cost you more for these back-ups. Office 365 subscriptions won't work if you don't upgrade from Win 10? And on and on

These tactics are almost criminal. I just built a new PC, finished it this week, to replace an ancient one in my 4 PC network. I had to jump through Microsoft’s hoops setting it up with local accounts and getting it working with my local NAS server rather than with OneDrive. MS all but forces that their Microsoft Account and Cloud be used. They do not want you to use a local account

MS’s goals seem nefarious to me: Let them use your data to further train AI (you are their product) and sell me, now and eventually, more cloud products that I don’t want or need.

(I installed Win 11 Pro, which is required if you wish to configure some restrictions in what the PC sends to MS - Win home doesn't have these controls) I'll block Bing where I can but it is getting to be ever more intrusive. Firefox still offers some privacy.

 

[Burty117]

Cortana, Google Assistant, Gemini, Chat GPT, Bixby, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Lexus, Garmin, Siri, Alexa, the list goes on for the amount of voice assistants/AI/command recognition systems I've used over the last 15 years.

None of them are perfect, none of them perfectly understand every word I say, I have to repeat stuff or word it differently or get rid of background noise etc...

With a keyboard, it understands exactly what I want, background noise isn't an issue, and overall takes far less processing power to do basic things.

I understand there's this prediction that AI is going to get a lot better and ramp up dramatically over the next 5 years, and that might be so, but over the last 20 years, voice recognition has gotten better, but nowhere near to perfect.
It's gotten reliable enough to ask it to remind me of stuff, set alarms or tell me the weather, but it has not gotten reliable enough to order groceries, run commands in powershell or set static IP addresses on Network Adaptors.

 

[GeoffreyA]

I don't see a world being better because machines are smarter than humans. Microsoft is using coercion to force upgrades of perfectly functional PC's to Windows 11. Your PC doesn’t have the tech currency(?) which is decided by MS, for Windows 11? Spend money on a new PC! No security upgrades after October? Extended upgrades for a year if allow MS to back-up to their cloud? This tactic is likely bait and switch – after a year it’ll cost you more for these back-ups. Office 365 subscriptions won't work if you don't upgrade from Win 10? And on and on
These tactics are almost criminal. I just built a new PC, finished it this week, to replace an ancient one in my 4 PC network. I had to jump through Microsoft’s hoops setting it up with local accounts and getting it working on my local NAS server rather than OneDrive. MS all but forces that their Microsoft Account and Cloud had to be used

MS’s goals seem nefarious to me: Let them use your data to further train AI (you are their product) and sell me, now and eventually, more cloud products that I don’t want or need.

(I installed Win 11 Pro, which is required if you wish to configure some restrictions in what the PC sends to MS - Win home doesn't allow you some controls)

Microsoft is without integrity. Many will be forced to move to Linux Mint in the future. For the present, I enabled ESU with MAS; it should work for the next three to six years.

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Ugh, I want to puke...

 

[seeprime]

They can't wait to get full access to mic and cameras in order to get more training ai materials. And what worse, many people will be happy with big corpos / govs having access to all details of our life just in exchange for little convenience. I wonder how we will get out of that rabbit hole on the next century. French revolution won't happen again if people will be feed propaganda by agentic ai, as we already can see in China. Shortly, we all will be getting citizen score. Anyone, who write 'president is dump' will be kicked out of country. wait...

What?

 

[wiyosaya]

Translation: Microsoft is going to be the monopolistic provider of Agentic AI and Microsoft, including me because of stock and other bonuses, are going to make a sh!tload of money by shoving this crap down the throats of people that don't want it. It will operate perfectly out of the box, and like the auto-correct of today, it will know what you want and automatically enter it even when you don't think you want it. Agentic AI is going to be the next best think since perforated toilet paper. Don't believe it? We will convince you as it sh1ts all over your computer.

I swear, if M$ goes through with this, I will be through with M$ and Windows.

 

[wiyosaya]

That they're talking about Windows 2030 suggests they're getting ready to sweep the ME-inspired 11 under the carpet.

The keyboard and mouse are more efficient than talking, which puts a heavy, distributed load on the brain. Talking isn't practical in many environments. As usual, they're using anti-modernisation shaming to sell their nonsense idea.

All Microsoft has got to do is blend XP, 7, and 10, brought up to date with the latest security and infrastructure, restore full user control, and they'll achieve acclaim. The GUI wheel was invented a long time ago. Going from a circle to a square is not progress.

Microsoft has been pushing square wheels for a long, long, long time. They have yet to figure out that round is a better shape for wheels.

 

[MasterAce]

”Hello windows, load up p0rnhub”
”Select categories feet and cake”
”Hngh, oh sh#t, pause, PAUSE”
”NO MOM, I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU”

It will be great.

 

[GeoffreyA]

Microsoft has been pushing square wheels for a long, long, long time. They have yet to figure out that round is a better shape for wheels.

It boggles the mind.

 

[wiyosaya]

I don't see a world being better because machines are smarter than humans. Microsoft is using coercion to force upgrades of perfectly functional PC's to Windows 11. Your PC doesn’t have the tech currency(?) which is decided by MS, for Windows 11? Spend money on a new PC! No security upgrades after October? Extended upgrades for a year if allow MS to back-up to their cloud? This tactic is likely bait and switch – after a year it’ll cost you more for these back-ups. Office 365 subscriptions won't work if you don't upgrade from Win 10? And on and on

These tactics are almost criminal. I just built a new PC, finished it this week, to replace an ancient one in my 4 PC network. I had to jump through Microsoft’s hoops setting it up with local accounts and getting it working with my local NAS server rather than with OneDrive. MS all but forces that their Microsoft Account and Cloud be used. They do not want you to use a local account

MS’s goals seem nefarious to me: Let them use your data to further train AI (you are their product) and sell me, now and eventually, more cloud products that I don’t want or need.

(I installed Win 11 Pro, which is required if you wish to configure some restrictions in what the PC sends to MS - Win home doesn't have these controls) I'll block Bing where I can but it is getting to be ever more intrusive. Firefox still offers some privacy.

For the next Win 11 setup, pull the network cable. Voila, no need for a "Microsoft account." Then turn off all the nuisance "notifications" in settings reminding you to finish setting up "your PC."

Just did a new build myself. Cloned an mbr booting PC Windows 10 PC to new hardware, used "mbr2gpt" to convert it to UEFI booting. Then "upgraded" to Win 11 from a USB stick after pulling the network cable. The end result - all my programs were there, no M$ account needed, got rid of "one drive" and other M$ nuisance software. When all was said and done, everything worked perfectly.

 

[GeoffreyA]

For the next Win 11 setup, pull the network cable. Voila, no need for a "Microsoft account." Then turn off all the nuisance "notifications" in settings reminding you to finish setting up "your PC."

Just did a new build myself. Cloned an mbr booting PC Windows 10 PC to new hardware, used "mbr2gpt" to convert it to UEFI booting. Then "upgraded" to Win 11 from a USB stick after pulling the network cable. The end result - all my programs were there, no M$ account needed, got rid of "one drive" and other M$ nuisance software. When all was said and done, everything worked perfectly.

O&O ShutUp10++ and AppBuster are indispensable too and work on 10 and 11.

 

[techstrike]

I think a bunch of low IQ wannabe nerds conquered the internet.

With keyboard & mouse you can communicate with 1000 users at the same time when by verbal communication only one.

Computers nowadays is just a communication medium ...

And btw, if AI will do everything for you because is cloned by you, then why bother and use the computer ...the cloud will provide everything for you , you don't have to be even connected...

 

[Beerfloat]

Why does this idea of talking to computers keep coming up? Who thinks this is a step forward?
I don't want to have to talk at all. What am I, someone's wife?

 

[Coisa]

For the next Win 11 setup, pull the network cable. Voila, no need for a "Microsoft account." Then turn off all the nuisance "notifications" in settings reminding you to finish setting up "your PC." . . . .

Thanks for the tip. I build a new one every 3 to 5 years. I didn't bite on Win 11 for previous build 3 years ago. Didn't know what search for to find tips like yours when I did this one. I think I'm headed for Linux next time. MS is just too intrusive. What's good for them is not necessarily good for us. They are getting worse in jamming things down our throats

 

[brunocasarini]

I think people at Microsoft have watched Minority Report way too much for their own sake.

 

[gamazet]

In 2030, we will use limestone to write on cave walls, while hiding from nuclear radiation.

 

[acrossthestars]

They made the same claims 10 years ago, with Cortana, when Windows 10 came out.

"Just use natural language to 'converse with your computer'. Voice is the most clear medium of communication", except that isn't true even between people speaking the same language. You've got innuendos, double-entrendres, "code words", etc. All of those things have to inferred through the medium of socioculture context or textuality. I mean, the beautiful thing about speech is that words can change, on-the-fly, and only the speaker knows the true intent of their dictation. Everyone else has to interpret and infer meaning through heuristics and other context clues, such as personality.

Multi-modal communication that is "so efficient, it can bypass typing" is a tech bro fantasy. Take something as simple as "the computer is broken, fix it". What does that mean? Is the hardware broken? Is the GUI acting up? Did Windows itself have a hiccup or did an application running on top of it, run into an error? Is it something Windows can even fix? Does the user know enough about their computer, to know when it's nominally-performant or when it's barely functional? The answer to most or all of these question is "maybe", "no", or "barely". So, no, when you cease with the tech alarmism for 5 seconds and think about the reality of Microsoft's proposal, it's as much a pipe dream now, as it was 10 years ago. The only difference between then and now is that AI chatbots are at least plausibly better at pretending to know what you're doing.

The funniest thing about the idea of exclusively using multi-modal communication to interact with an agentic-driven Windows OS, the true comedy, is that prompt engineers still use a keyboard. Whoops!

 

[Rumiku]

In other news, the triangle and square will now replace the circle, for wheels on the car.

If these are the visionaries at Microsoft...

 

[arrowflash]

That they're talking about Windows 2030 suggests they're getting ready to sweep the ME-inspired 11 under the carpet.

The keyboard and mouse are more efficient than talking, which puts a heavy, distributed load on the brain. Talking isn't practical in many environments. As usual, they're using anti-modernisation shaming to sell their nonsense idea.

All Microsoft has got to do is blend XP, 7, and 10, brought up to date with the latest security and infrastructure, restore full user control, and they'll achieve acclaim. The GUI wheel was invented a long time ago. Going from a circle to a square is not progress.

From an usability, UI/UX perspective, we should never have moved from 7. Heck, Windows 2000/Windows XP Classic UI was already perfectly fine by me and I'd still be using it if I could. But then how would designers justify keeping their jobs?

The problem with Windows (and most other software these days, really) is that development teams have many people onboard that the only way to justify keeping their jobs, is making up new features, bloat and changes that no one wants and no one asked for.

Especially UI/UX and feature designers, in an ideal world should never ever be hires, always contractors.

On Windows 11, I have to use an uncomfortable amount of third-party tools to keep the UI sane. In Windows 8 and Windows 10, Classic Shell/OpenShell was enough. Now with Windows 11, I also need Windhawk to make it usable.

 

[3ogdy]

Does Microsoft know about these devices called speakers that can be used to play music on your PC? How would that work if the only way to interact with my computer is by talking into a mic?
What if I don't feel like talking?
What if I'm on the phone having a conversation while using my PC?

What if we stopped making circles square, then round again, just to claim we're fresh and that we're innovating?

 

[GeoffreyA]

From an usability, UI/UX perspective, we should never have moved from 7. Heck, Windows 2000/Windows XP Classic UI was already perfectly fine by me and I'd still be using it if I could. But then how would designers justify keeping their jobs?

The problem with Windows (and most other software these days, really) is that development teams have many people onboard that the only way to justify keeping their jobs, is making up new features, bloat and changes that no one wants and no one asked for.

Especially UI/UX and feature designers, in an ideal world should never ever be hires, always contractors.

On Windows 11, I have to use an uncomfortable amount of third-party tools to keep the UI sane. In Windows 8 and Windows 10, Classic Shell/OpenShell was enough. Now with Windows 11, I also need Windhawk to make it usable.

Exactly. They're sitting and have got to come up with something to show, so change for the sake of change and "fixing what ain't broke." I also think the higher-level folk are pushing these ill-conceived ideas, consistent with the billions invested in AI, and the designers and programmers doing the work haven't got much say.

7 was a joy to use. Since then, the UI has been on the decline. I appreciate 10's minimalism, though, and OpenShell and ShutUp10++ curtail its excesses. In contrast, 11 is painful to use, inefficient, and hurts the eyes.