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Microsoft Attracting Users To Its Code-writing new weapon in the cloud wars

Ravi Kumar

Jan 27,2023
3 min read
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The GitHub Copilot has been available to the public since June of last year and hit 4,00,000 subscribers within a month. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday that more than 1 million people had used the AI tool to date.

It works by providing developers with an AI assistant, which can offer advice and guidance on coding tasks, suggest solutions to common coding problems, and provide automated code-writing solutions. GitHub Copilot can also help developers streamline their workflow, and help them to avoid costly mistakes, as well as allowing them to deploy code to their desired platforms quickly and easily.

The AI arms race

With cloud spend tightening, it's likely that Amazon and Google will look to give their cloud divisions a shot in the arm too with AI to stay competitive. Amazon will want to retain its lead position, Google is pursuing an aggressive growth plan.

"This isn't a vacuum," said Bola Rotibi, chief of enterprise research at CCS Insight. "You can imagine Amazon is not going to be sitting on its laurels or waiting there for Microsoft to surpass it."

Cloud represents a growing slice of Big Tech's respective revenue pies. Microsoft Cloud, which also includes revenue from Office 365 and other products as well as Azure, represented around 50% of the company's overall revenue. In Amazon's last earnings, AWS represented around 16% of its overall earnings, while Google Cloud's $6.9 billion in revenue at the end of the September quarter represented 10% of overall revenue.

Satya Nadella wordings

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — who once ran its cloud division — accordingly provoked some of this angst as he warned that the firm's Azure customers were beginning to "optimize" their cloud spending after a pandemic binge.

But, he added: "We fundamentally believe that the next big platform wave is going to be AI and we strongly also believe a lot of the enterprise value gets created by just being able to catch these waves and then have those waves impact every part of our tech stack and also create new solutions and new opportunities."

Cloud computing has taken off over the last decade as a way for blue-chip businesses to store massive amounts of information on servers run by the major tech firms, rather than on-premise. For the most part, it's faster, more secure, and more flexible.

Armed with the deadliest weapon yet

In a blogpost announcing the deal, Microsoft noted that its investment in the developer behind the generative AI chatbot would help it build "leading AI infrastructure" for Azure. In practice, this means developing cloud technologies that are purpose-built for AI, giving it an edge at a time when excitement among developers for AI is peaking.

Microsoft's gamble, essentially, is that everyone will need and use artificial intelligence in the near future — and that means increased demand and cash for the computing power to train AI models.

Conclusion

In addition to these features, GitHub Copilot also provides a feature called "Code Reviews" which allows developers to collaborate with their team members and get feedback on their code. This feature allows developers to share their code with their team members and get feedback on it in real-time. This can help to improve the quality of the code and ensure that it meets the standards of the team.

Microsoft is also attracting developers to GitHub Copilot by offering a range of tutorials, videos, and other resources to help them get started. Additionally, the company is offering incentives such as discounts and other offers to encourage developers to use its platform.