Microsoft walks us through Copilot Search with a domain it doesn't even own

Microsoft this week trumpeted the launch of Microsoft 365 Copilot Search with lofty promises and slick mock-ups, but the domain plastered all over them didn't belong to the corporation. The tech giant dropped a blog on Wednesday touting Copilot Search's escape from preview and entry into general availability (as long as your …

[Pascal Monett]

"it refused to comment"

Well duh. You're not the school teacher, now are you ?

Unfortunately for Redmond, you are journalists, and journalists have a tendancy to talk about things.

Publicly. And openly.

And that kind of mistake at this point in time is really not a good thing for Borkzilla.

But, realistically, what will it change ? Nothing. Redmond's history of failures could fill an encyclopedia, yet Microsoft is still a $3.8 trillion company, instead of being the run-from-a-garage failure it should be.

So, business as usual, then, eh ?

[Paul Herber]

Re: "it refused to comment"

All the normal borkzilla.* domains are available ...

[Dan 55]

They have a domain set up already which they should be using for this

Yes, it's contoso.com.

That's what happens when you churn through too many staff.

[katrinab]

Re: They have a domain set up already which they should be using for this

Yes, that's exactly what I was going to say. contoso.com is their placeholder domain, they own it and have done since the late 1900s.

[Always Right Mostly]

Re: They have a domain set up already which they should be using for this

Ahh, those early steam powered PCs, them was the days.

[K555]

Re: They have a domain set up already which they should be using for this

I wonder how often contoso.com shows up on servers at companies when they've had a new engineer follow an example guide a little too closely?

Reckon it's tens of thousands!

[Lusty]

Re: They have a domain set up already which they should be using for this

Actually they have a whole list of domains for this, contoso is just the well known one. There’s an internal website with a full list and how to use them. The domains are spread across industries, and for those in the know, contoso is very often used inappropriately.

[Just Enough]

Rookie error

Never, ever, use fake or dummy domain names in anything without first either buying it, or making sure it's an invalid name. What you think is obviously "fake" could belong to anyone, who ends up getting your traffic or communications.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Rookie error

"Invalid" can change with time. Some of the Nancy Drew games reference websites with names like krolmeister.lab (or similar, can't remember an exact one). At the time, *.lab was invalid. Now it's just a matter of time.

[Psy-Q]

Is everyone here too young to remember RFC 2606 and friends? example.com and example.org exist exactly for this. I thought we were all old farts around here and knew this.

Those names can *never* be registered by anyone. That's even better than owning the domain.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Probably Copilot doesn't know

[Anonymous Coward]

Domain squatting and housing market

Domain squatting is a great analogy to the housing market. No matter the supply of new domains (houses), the prices stay absurdly high. Especially for best locations. Both businesses are hugely profitable.

I bet 90% of all reasonable domains are for sale. Like biggest houses standing mostly empty in Manhattan.

Both should have 80% capital gains tax on sale, unless moving or downsizing - then zero tax.

[EricB123]

Re: Domain squatting and housing market

That's such a logical idea, it certainly won't be considered!

[O'Reg Inalsin]

Al did it

Looks like an AI generated image, judging by the nonsense content. At the bottom of the blog, partial credit is given to AI. The only way that will work is if the managing human is both given credit for the creation and takes responsibility for mistakes (two-way).

[tezboyes]

Re: Al did it

Which was going to be my question.

Surely a presentation on how great copilot is should be created by the tool itself. And if it was, then it just shows, that like other office juniors, it still has a lot to learn.

I've recently had to point out to staff the existence of example.com and to please remove dummy.com ....

But then I just asked Copilot who owns m365.com, it's answer is Microsoft!

https://copilot.microsoft.com/shares/iRDDRtK8Z8UGKWLUKRLkd

Interestingly using Chrome to visit the site takes me to the Chinese page with an offer to buy, using Edge takes me to a search results page with the M$ Office page at the top!

[tezboyes]

Re: Al did it

So I just had an argument with Copilot!

I tried lying about having bought the domain, but it doubled down on how that can't be true. Even when I asked it to check the website, Copilot told me that m365.com was still delivering Microsoft content via their CDN Akamai!!!

Took me several goes for it to admit it was wrong, not until I quoted ename.com did it finally cop to the fact that it (or Microsoft?) got that wrong.

This is how the world ends ...

https://copilot.microsoft.com/shares/8Jhu45kcS2f5b6zAuBBsH

[seldom]

Re: Al did it

Did you really buy it?

If not, then you know that although chatbots are allowed to lie to you, you are not allowed to lie to chatbots.

Computer Abuse Act 2025

Damn, sorry, I meant AI.

Oh god, I misrespected an AI. 40 years in jail for me.

You'll get the kittens though.

[tezboyes]

Re: Al did it

Ah,but how do you know I'm not a chatbot ...

[druck]

Re: Al did it

Because only a particular type of person would be daft to waste time trying to reason with one?

[tezboyes]

Re: Al did it

I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.

[druck]

Re: Al did it

A conscious entity would take some time out to have fun.

[tezboyes]

Re: Al did it

I'm sorry Druck, I'm afraid I can't do that.

[seldom]

Re: Al did it

Those arguments with AI remind me of talking to my old boss.

Apart from the final admission that it might not be 100% correct at this moment in time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Al did it

Much like my ex-wife then