> This new Copilot is an interesting app, and that might also explain why it feels faster than typical web apps or PWAs. It’s because Microsoft ships a private copy of Edge inside the Copilot app, includes a custom launcher (mscopilot.exe), and the Copilot UI itself is a web app rendered via WebView2.
I’m having trouble understanding the causality here. Why does shipping an entire version of Edge improve speed?
I’m a broken record on this, but the problem is fundamentally an internet explorer grade problem.
First, the system “web” philosophy is always “tie the engine to the platform, move in lock step so nothing ever breaks”
It’s best to think about Windows proper like Debian.
The releases are stable and inoffensive.
Cue the web, introduced to solve the problem of “reality doesn’t exist on a software roadmap”
Where the browser engines update daily now and have for decades because
The people have spoken
So for Microsoft to compete, they need to break their own windows philosophy and err towards rolling release, which feels more like Arch in practice, but is fundamentally why their system web view is out of date enough that their innovation teams need to ship an even more Edge web kernel, pun intended.
Not a good week/weekend for Microsoft on HN. There are currently 2-3 front page threads tearing them apart. I’ve even made my own thread regarding discontinuation of not only support, but runnability of Publisher (what the absolute fuck!). What are their product managers doing?!
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> This new Copilot is an interesting app, and that might also explain why it feels faster than typical web apps or PWAs. It’s because Microsoft ships a private copy of Edge inside the Copilot app, includes a custom launcher (mscopilot.exe), and the Copilot UI itself is a web app rendered via WebView2.
I’m having trouble understanding the causality here. Why does shipping an entire version of Edge improve speed?
First, the system “web” philosophy is always “tie the engine to the platform, move in lock step so nothing ever breaks”
It’s best to think about Windows proper like Debian.
The releases are stable and inoffensive.
Cue the web, introduced to solve the problem of “reality doesn’t exist on a software roadmap”
Where the browser engines update daily now and have for decades because
The people have spoken
So for Microsoft to compete, they need to break their own windows philosophy and err towards rolling release, which feels more like Arch in practice, but is fundamentally why their system web view is out of date enough that their innovation teams need to ship an even more Edge web kernel, pun intended.