Microsoft 365 Copilot launch sparks backlash over price hike and user issues

The big picture: When Microsoft flipped the switch on its new AI-powered Copilot features for Microsoft 365 earlier this month (formerly Office 365), it might have anticipated celebratory reactions from its millions of loyal subscribers. After all, it's artificial intelligence, apparently the hottest frontier in tech. But not everyone's a fan.

The biggest point of contention was the substantial 30% price increase that accompanied Copilot's rollout.

For the uninitiated, Microsoft announced earlier this month that it was bundling its new Copilot AI features into the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans, resulting in a price increase of $3 per month. The monthly cost rose to $9.99 from $6.99, while the annual fee went up to $99.99 from $69.99. Microsoft attributed the hike to the advanced AI capabilities now baked into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other apps.

While it had been over a decade since Microsoft last raised rates for its productivity suite, that markup caught many off guard. The lack of clear advance notifications about the changes and price increase also irked customers.

ZDNet's Ed Bott asked Copilot to do the math: A $3 monthly price hike for 84 million subscribers equals $3 billion in extra annual revenue. But at what cost to customer trust?

Now, there are alternative versions of those plans on offer for existing users who have no need for the AI features. But they are only available to existing Microsoft 365 subscribers.

The launch also had other issues that left many users baffled. Some saw phantom pop-ups claiming their subscription rate had inexplicably jumped into the thousands of dollars per month. Others had the Copilot software forcibly installed on their machines, with no clear initial option to disable it.

Further frustration arose from the confusing cross-subscription policies. ZDNet's Ed Bott, who pays for both work and personal Microsoft 365 plans, was essentially blocked from using Copilot features on one of those accounts due to a technical limitation Microsoft apparently didn't properly communicate.

Moreover, most users agree on how terrible Microsoft 365's new name and logo look. As if ditching the "Office 365" branding for "Microsoft 365" wasn't enough, it's further muddied the waters with yet another rebrand to include the word "Copilot."

The new Microsoft 365 Copilot logo is so bad that it's hard to look at on lower resolutions. It is also creating confusion between the actual Copilot and Microsoft 365 😂 pic.twitter.com/HiSQnNHLZm

Had Microsoft introduced this as an opt-in beta, the reception likely would have been much warmer, but that's not to say Copilot 365 lacks potential. There are valid productivity uses for automating rote tasks like text generation and data analysis as these technologies mature.