Microsoft Faces Developer Confidence Questions at Build Conference
10 reported2 unconfirmed
According to a Wired report, Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference this week featured CEO Satya Nadella promoting agentic AI, but the event was overshadowed by concerns about the company’s stock performance and product uptake. The article notes that Microsoft’s stock has been down this year while competitors’ valuations have soared, and its workplace AI Copilot products have seen disappointing adoption. Additionally, Anthropic has taken the lead in coding tools with its agentic approach, prompting Microsoft to end its Claude Code licenses to force developers to use Copilot. GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary, has experienced unprecedented downtimes, leading to complaints and defections among longtime users. Microsoft VP Scott Hanselman, who is on the GitHub technical staff, acknowledged the issues but described them as a “hiccup moment” caused by bot traffic. Hanselman also discussed Microsoft’s belated effort to embrace agentic AI through its OpenClaw adoption and a new product called Scout, which he helped bring into the company.
What’s reported
Microsoft’s stock has been down this year while competitors’ valuations and share prices have soared.
Microsoft’s workplace AI Copilot products have had disappointing uptake.
Anthropic has grabbed the lead in coding tools with its agentic approach to coding.
Microsoft responded by ending its Claude Code licenses to force its developers to use Copilot.
GitHub has had unprecedented downtimes that have led longtime fans to complain and even defect.
Scott Hanselman is a Microsoft VP on the GitHub technical staff who considered leaving the company late last year but became supercharged by the agentic coding revolution.
Hanselman helped bring OpenClaw, an open-source agentic coding tool, into Microsoft.
Microsoft’s biggest announcement at Build was about agents and its OpenClaw adoption through a product called Scout.
Hanselman stated that GitHub is under tremendous pressure from bots and is “up 99 percent of the time.”
Hanselman said he does not use AI image generation or AI video generation because he does not believe in those things.
Open questions
How many errors or hallucinations users will tolerate from AI agents like Scout.
Whether Microsoft’s agentic AI products will face similar resistance as its AI productivity tools.
Key figures
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO
Scott Hanselman, Microsoft VP and GitHub technical staff member
Peter Steinberger, OpenClaw founder
Steven Levy, Wired journalist
Sources: Wired
