The Blogging Dream
Welcome faithful readers to the next chapter in my cloud computing odyssey; now as it goes I look at myself and like to think I can push the digital boundaries, find things that others may have missed, break stuff and move quickly (absolute cringe….), So, I am no stranger to the whims of technology, where it can do one thing one day then 180 degree turn and do another completely different thing the next. But even I was not prepared for the rollercoaster ride that was my first experience with Copilot Pro.
So; yes I have Copilot with work, I was one of the lucky few to be given preview access, so have had some time to play about with it in the enterprise world, doing all sorts of wonderful things with Teams, Outlook and Word, and it does actually help save time on the day to day when you have a need to dig out details out of a long lost email or conversation thread in teams. So imagine the excitement when I heard that “Copilot Pro” was being made available en-masse, to all and sundry who can now access the great AI behemoth that Microsoft has created. Given I’m a-bit of a Microsoft fanboy I obviously took the opportunity to leverage this awesomeness in my personal digital existence…
Now if only I had a worthwhile opportunity to use the power of a personal Copilot… well now I do: a blog site, “Raife bytes,” this platform of absolute technology chaos where the digital meets the whimsical, and I’m the maestro orchestrating it all. Except now I can be the maestro with a digital partner, a Copilot, and not just any Copilot a Pro one!
Back in the summer I attended Scottish Summit (albeit in Manchester, on tour), and it was my first in person speaking event, and I was nervous, as such I went full on prep mode and spent a fair few weeks making an absolute belter of PowerPoint to support my presentation, “An Apple a Day, Keeps the Doctor Away“, the presentation went well I had a fellow speaker Luke Evans MVP, god of all that is technology (being my in person Copilot) and it was all awesome. Even if I did spot someone drifting to sleep in the audience…. So ever since then I have felt like I should share the content wider, as I had the base PowerPoint and it was ripe for repurposing, so how hard could it be, I just needed to make a blog post out of it!
So, here we are present day, me and my Copilot. I had a topic and now have a platform, I was all set to let Copilot Pro work its AI backed content review and analysis magic. The plan? Well I was going to use the awesome “summarise this presentation” feature in PowerPoint and transform my Scottish Summit slides into prose that would make Shakespeare envious.
The Plot Twist
With presentation ready I had gone through the onboarding process, went to my personal Microsoft account gave it all my credit card details, signed up for Microsoft 365 Personal @ £5.99 pm, and then added the upgrade to my new found friend Copilot Pro @£19pm. So; I was all set! Licences bought, Copilot enabled, off we skipped hand in hand to remove the writers block. My trusty Copilot was going to help me on my quest to share the wealth, reviewing my presentation for me, providing me a structure and giving me the AI backed support to create a blogging masterpiece. But, alas as fate would have it, like any dramatic Shakespearean play my dutiful man servant Copilot Pro had other plans.
So fellow tech enthuiasts the error message that greeted me was like a cold shower on my provierbial creative flames. “Something went wrong, please try again later,” my Copilot taunted me like all those years ago schoolyard bullies. I couldn’t help but wonder at this point if Copilot Pro was giving me a subtle hint that unfortunately my presentation was just too brilliant and witty to be summarised by mere robots.
Maybe my humour was just too dry, too much sarcasm or just too many pictures and not enough substance (I have heard this a few times about my work) maybe Copilot knows me better than I know myself, and I’m not meant to be a tech blogger extrodinaire, anyway long story short the computer said no, do not pass go and definitely do not collect £200.
The Persistence
But fear not dear readers, like any Hero’s quest, they do not give up at the first hurdle, like Ronan O’Gara said today in the pre-match chat between Sale and La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Rugby, “Weak people find excuses, we need to find solutions” so I persisted.
I tried different presentation files, different times, even different moods as you can see left (maybe Copilot Pro preferred a more upbeat user?). But alas the result was always the same: the dreaded error message. It was like trying to get a laugh out of a technology blog article, futile.
Then it hit me. Perhaps Copilot Pro was like a fine wine, maybe it needed some time to mature. Or maybe it was just shy, having a bad day, either way, I decided to give it some space, hoping that absence would make the literary heart grow fonder.
The Unexpected Success
So after a somewhat disturbed nights sleep, thanks to DS2 who needed more milk at 2am, I thought I would give it another go, but no dice, zip, zero nada. I had obviously offended my trusty butler. Like any dispute however there is always more perspectives than your own. And then, that’s when it dawned on me when all hope seemed lost, a breakthrough! My Copilot Pro came through for me, however it was not with my PowerPoint, but with this basis of this very blog post. It’s like that friend who can’t cook to save their life but makes a great cup of coffee – you do appreciate the effort.
So, what’s the takeaway from my comedic misadventure with Copilot Pro? Did it help me in my quest to summarise my presentation, no ,however technology can be fickle, and sometimes, like most rugby matches you just have to roll with the punches. And who knows, maybe one day, Copilot Pro and I will sync up again like an old married couple, finishing each other’s sentences (or presentations) and the content of my first public speaking event will get shared further!
The Invitation
Now, dear readers, given Copilot is so brand new, everyone will have an experience as they start to use it, so it’s your turn to share. Have you faced any hiccups in trying to get your own digital assistant to work as you need, maybe it’s even turned into a humorous anecdote? Drop your stories in the comments – let’s turn our collective tech troubles into a treasure trove of chuckles. Until next time, when I’ll either regale you with tales of technological triumph or more comedic woes
Gary
P.S. CoPilot Pro, if you’re reading this, let’s make our next date a success, shall we? I’ll bring the PowerPoint, you bring the summarising skills. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll create blog post gold together.
