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

BoredPositron

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

elwray

wow. I wonder how this was found out originally?

kstrauser

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.

fortran77

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

ygra

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

JanneVee

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.

zamadatix

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

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

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

aquir

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

layer8

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

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.

Ciantic

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

why does Microsoft just not listen to its people

OnionBlender

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.

ThePowerOfFuet

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

Simulacra

Does this mean that Edge is only for entertainment purposes, too?

deafpolygon

That's really pushing the boundaries on what a "minimum viable product" can be.

gradientsrneat

busybox does a similar trick where it executes a different program based on the program's name. But it uses symlinks for the different names, so it doesn't use significantly more space by doing this.