It a result of a rather sad trend, which I think started with Google. Rather than going out and doing market research you just throw things against the wall, measure and see if people are using it at any significant rate.
The difference between Google and Microsoft is that Google have no problems just killing of things that doesn't perform to their standard (which is bad in it's own way). With Microsoft backwards compatibility is everything, so once something is in Windows, it says around for a very, very, long time.
AI assistance in writing isn't a bad idea, but maybe not in Notepad. I know that this isn't they way modern Microsoft wants to do things, but exposing an API that would allow 3rd. party vendors to AI support in Windows seems like a more sensible approach. Except they'd probably have to make it accessible from Javascript to make anyone use it.
Perhaps trying random things uncovers more big opportunities than market research does. Market research tells you to breed faster horses; random things converge to combustion engines.
According to Wikipedia [0], the development of the car concept went from 1649 to 1881. That's not exactly throwing random things and seeing what sticks. It may have not been systematic, but with the wealth of information and resources we have today, we can and should do better.
The difference between Google and Microsoft is that Google have no problems just killing of things that doesn't perform to their standard (which is bad in it's own way). With Microsoft backwards compatibility is everything, so once something is in Windows, it says around for a very, very, long time.
AI assistance in writing isn't a bad idea, but maybe not in Notepad. I know that this isn't they way modern Microsoft wants to do things, but exposing an API that would allow 3rd. party vendors to AI support in Windows seems like a more sensible approach. Except they'd probably have to make it accessible from Javascript to make anyone use it.