Developers person been comparing the strengths and weaknesses of Anthropic’s Claude Code, Anysphere’s Cursor, and Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot for months now, looking for a winner. While nary individual AI coding instrumentality manages to beryllium the champion astatine each task that package developers do each day, Claude Code is progressively coming retired connected apical for its easiness of use, some for developers and nontechnical users.
It seems for illustration Microsoft agrees, arsenic sources show maine the institution is now encouraging thousands of its labor from immoderate of its astir prolific teams to prime up Claude Code and get coding, moreover if they’re not developers.
Microsoft first started adopting Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 exemplary wrong its developer section successful June past year, earlier favoring it for paid users of GitHub Copilot respective months later. Now, Microsoft is going a measurement beyond utilizing Anthropic’s AI models and wide adopting Claude Code crossed its biggest engineering teams.
Microsoft’s CoreAI team, the caller AI engineering group led by erstwhile Meta engineering main Jay Parikh, has been testing Claude Code successful caller months, and past week Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices section were being asked to instal Claude Code. This section is responsible for Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Bing, Edge, Surface, and more.
Even labor without immoderate coding acquisition are being encouraged to research pinch Claude Code, to let designers and task managers to prototype ideas. Microsoft has besides approved the usage of Claude Code crossed each of its codification and repositories for its Business and Industry Copilot teams.
Software engineers astatine Microsoft are now expected to usage some Claude Code and GitHub Copilot and springiness feedback comparing the two, I’m told. Microsoft sells GitHub Copilot arsenic its AI coding instrumentality of prime to its customers, but if these wide soul aviator programs are successful, past it’s imaginable the institution could moreover yet waste Claude Code straight to its unreality customers.
Microsoft is now 1 of Anthropic’s apical customers, according to a caller study from The Information. The package shaper is besides counting trading Anthropic AI models toward Azure income quotas, which is different fixed Microsoft typically only offers its salespeople incentives for homegrown products aliases models from OpenAI.
Microsoft’s determination to adopt Claude Code much broadly among its engineering teams surely looks for illustration a ballot of assurance successful Anthropic’s AI devices complete its own, particularly arsenic it’s encouraging nontechnical labor to effort retired coding. But the reality is that Microsoft’s developers are apt to usage a operation of AI tools, and adopting Claude Code is different portion of that instrumentality set.
“Companies regularly trial and proceedings competing products to summation a amended knowing of the marketplace landscape,” says Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s communications chief, successful a connection to Notepad. “OpenAI continues to beryllium our superior partner and exemplary supplier connected frontier models, and we stay committed to our semipermanent partnership.”
While Microsoft remains committed to OpenAI, it is progressively moving pinch Anthropic to bring its models and devices to Microsoft’s ain teams and the package it sells to customers. Microsoft and Anthropic signed a deal successful November that allows Microsoft Foundry customers to get entree to Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Opus 4.1, and Claude Haiku 4.5. The woody besides involves Anthropic committing to purchasing $30 cardinal of Azure compute capacity.
Microsoft has besides started favoring Anthropic’s Claude models inside Microsoft 365 apps and Copilot recently, utilizing them successful specific apps aliases features wherever Anthropic’s models person proved much tin than OpenAI’s counterparts.
The large mobility present is, what does the accrued usage of Claude Code astatine Microsoft mean for its much than 100,000 codification repositories? Microsoft told maine past twelvemonth that 91 percent of its engineering teams usage GitHub Copilot and a assortment of teams person been utilizing the AI instrumentality to velocity up mundane tasks. Microsoft’s usage of AI devices has been mostly restricted to package engineers, but pinch Claude Code and Claude Cowork, Anthropic is progressively focused connected making coding and non-coding tasks much approachable, acknowledgment to AI supplier capabilities.
Microsoft is embracing the easiness of usage of Claude Code to let much nontechnical labor to perpetrate codification utilizing AI, and this wide aviator will surely item the challenges and benefits of that shift. It besides puts further unit connected inferior developer roles, pinch fears successful the manufacture that these roles are progressively disappearing because of AI. Microsoft conscionable took different large measurement toward a early wherever much autonomous AI agents are creating code, further wrestling power from its package engineers.
Microsoft is getting fresh to show disconnected 2 of its biggest Xbox games this year, Forza Horizon 6 and Fable, later coming arsenic portion of its Xbox Developer Direct stream. There will besides beryllium a first in-depth look astatine Beast of Reincarnation and astatine slightest 1 different crippled shown, I’m hearing. Double Fine is fresh to show disconnected Kiln, a multiplayer, team-based brawler. I understand Double Fine has been holding playtests recently, wherever you play arsenic a tone that tin inhabit pottery and transportation h2o to douse an opponent’s kiln and put retired a fire.
I wouldn’t beryllium amazed to spot Kiln appear arsenic an early preview successful the coming months, followed by Forza Horizon 6 successful May and past Halo: Campaign Evolved. I support proceeding that some Fable and Gears of War: E-Day are presently targeting a merchandise successful the 2nd half of this year. Microsoft is keen to merchandise caller Forza, Gears, Halo, and Fable games successful 2026 to people 25 years of Xbox.
- Microsoft’s first Windows 11 update of 2026 stopped immoderate computers from shutting down. It’s only January and Microsoft has had to unreserved retired an emergency out-of-band hole that stopped immoderate Windows 11 PCs from shutting down. The issues were constricted to machines moving Enterprise and IoT editions of Windows 11 type 23H2, but it’s yet different buggy update for Windows, which is becoming progressively common.
- Microsoft’s free Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming soon pinch ads. Microsoft is getting person to launching its free streaming action for Xbox Cloud Gaming. The ad-supported characteristic has started appearing wrong the Xbox app for PC, indicating “1 hr of ad-supported playtime per session.” I’m expecting to spot this rollout pinch preroll ads successful the coming weeks, but location could beryllium limits of up to 5 hours free per month.
- Microsoft wants to build 15 information centers successful Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The quiet onshore formerly owned by Foxconn is astir to beryllium transformed into Microsoft information centers. Leaders of the section colony successful Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, approved plans for the information centers earlier this week, and last support could travel adjacent week. Foxconn’s grounded Wisconsin task had promised 13,000 jobs, but now the onshore will beryllium filled pinch a 1.2-million-square-foot information halfway task that will clasp hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s AI GPUs.
- The Xbox app is now disposable for each Arm-based Windows 11 PCs. After a rocky commencement to gaming connected Windows connected Arm, Microsoft has updated its Xbox app this week truthful it’s afloat compatible pinch each Qualcomm-powered devices. More than 85 percent of the Xbox Game Pass catalog is besides now compatible pinch Arm-based devices, but the mostly of games will still request to beryllium emulated utilizing Microsoft’s Prism technology.
- Microsoft Paint now has an AI-powered coloring book. Microsoft is adding much AI features to its Paint app this week. Windows testers tin now effort retired a coloring book feature that lets you create coloring book pages from a matter prompt. It’s disposable wrong the Copilot fastener successful Paint, and you person to person a Copilot Plus PC to beryllium capable to usage it. Notepad (the app!) is besides getting expanded Markdown syntax features and a caller invited acquisition to item features. I ne'er thought I’d spot the time that Notepad, a lightweight app, would request a invited surface because of each the features Microsoft has packed in.
- GitHub has a caller Copilot SDK. Microsoft is announcing a method preview of its GitHub Copilot SDK today, which brings the powerfulness of the GitHub Copilot CLI to immoderate app. It fundamentally allows developers to bring GitHub Copilot capabilities arsenic a programmable SDK for Python, TypeScript, Go, and .NET. Microsoft teams person already utilized this to build civilization GUIs for agents, summarizing tools, YouTube section generators, and more.
- Satya Nadella and erstwhile British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chat AI. Former UK leader Rishi Sunak took connected a elder advisor domiciled astatine Microsoft and Anthropic past year, and he’s now appeared alongside Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to talk the early of AI. The astir 30-minute talk didn’t person immoderate astonishing news, but Sunak did work together pinch Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that “you whitethorn not suffer your occupation to AI, but you whitethorn good suffer your occupation to personification utilizing AI.” Nadella thinks AI will make america each “managers of infinite minds,” overmuch for illustration really we person “information astatine your fingertips.”
- Microsoft now sponsors the Mercedes-AMG F1 team. Microsoft is switching its F1 allegiances from Alpine to Mercedes-AMG for the 2026 season. A new multiyear partnership will spot Mercedes-AMG usage Microsoft technologies for title squad operations and plaster the Microsoft logo successful salient positions connected the 2026 Mercedes-AMG F1 car and connected racing suits. There’s a large method shake-up for the 2026 season, pinch all-new chassis, powerfulness units, and substance regulations.
I’m ever keen to perceive from readers, truthful please driblet a remark here, aliases you tin scope maine astatine [email protected] if you want to talk thing else. If you’ve heard astir immoderate of Microsoft’s concealed projects, you tin scope maine via email astatine [email protected] aliases speak to maine confidentially connected the Signal messaging app, wherever I’m tomwarren.01. I’m besides tomwarren connected Telegram, if you’d for illustration to chat there.
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