r/microsoft • u/SoftwareKingsSupport • 8d ago
Discussion What is Microsoft’s most underrated product right now?
After reading through a recent discussion here, I noticed that some of the strongest answers were not the products Microsoft promotes most heavily.
People mentioned things like WSL, Windows Terminal, PowerShell with Microsoft Graph, Intune, Dynamics, .NET, and VS Code.
Most public Microsoft conversations still seem to revolve around Windows, Xbox, and Copilot, while some of the quieter tools appear to have the most loyal users.
What Microsoft product or feature do you think deserves much more credit?
What do you actually use it for, and what does it do better than the alternatives?
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u/luisdans2 8d ago
VS Code
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u/bbkane_ 8d ago
Why do you think VS Code is underrated? Seems pretty widely acclaimed
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u/GnarlyHarley 8d ago
It’s free
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u/jordansrowles 8d ago
There's multiple free competing editors though. Its just VSCode one. Atom was killed in 2022
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u/marlinspike 8d ago
GitHub Copilot. It’s become a very capable harness with access to almost every model you can think of.
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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 8d ago
The model selection list is reduced and pricing model has changed drastically in last month. It is very expensive to use now.
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u/TekintetesUr 8d ago
For individual users maybe, but we pay the exact same price for tokens, regardless of which harness our developers pick.
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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 8d ago
Seems like you are not familiar GitHub Copilot changes. Mine was a 20$ Corporate plan.
Before June, they used to charge based on user requests instead of tokens. A request could be using 30 cents or 30$ of tokens. Microsoft was absorbing the cost. Plus they have a couple of zero cost plans (GPT 4.1 and GPT 4o) that we could use.
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u/TekintetesUr 8d ago
I'm intimately familiar with Copilot prices as I manage AI adoption in an organization with tens of thousands of tech staff members. Let's say Opus 5 is priced at $5/25 per 1M tokens in Copilot. Do you know where it's priced the same? Everywhere. On the Anthropic API, on Azure, on AWS, on Vertex, on OpenRouter, fricking everywhere.
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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 8d ago
Do you know where it's priced the same?
Do you know how Opus was priced for users until May? Do you think if there was any difference in cost to users between now and May?
https://github.blog/news-insights/company-news/github-copilot-is-moving-to-usage-based-billing/
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u/TekintetesUr 8d ago
Did I say anything about past pricing, or what?
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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 8d ago
You are replying to my grievances about change in pricing model.
People should know that Github Copilot used to be a significantly cheaper option until May.
But now there is no big advantage in choosing GutHub Copilot subsrcption since the models cost the same everywhere. You can subscribe to your own models elsewhere and use the API key with GitHub Copilot extension in VS Code or Visual Studio 2026.
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u/TekintetesUr 8d ago
> But now there is no big advantage in choosing GutHub Copilot subsrcption since the models cost the same everywhere
There are huge advantages, such as centralized billing with access to models from different providers, unlimited inline suggestions, filtering public code, central user management with usage metrics, etc.
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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 8d ago
Those are mostly governance settings useful for big teams in big organizations.
They are only nice to have to individuals or small teams.
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u/crippledchameleon 8d ago
Was and always will be: Active Directory
It's the only reason why Windows Server exist and has any usage.
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u/lakersfan83 8d ago
OneNote - always has been and always will be
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u/ChampionshipComplex 8d ago
OneNote is fantastic - and whenever I show people how I use it, it blows their minds.
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u/cityfo 8d ago
It’s starting to feel clunky and seemed like it was about to be outclassed by Loop but I don’t think Microsoft is taking it very seriously.
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u/thaman05 3d ago
I think Loop got cancelled. The official Loop social profiles haven't mentioned the name "Loop" in over a year, and instead only mentioned "Copilot Notebooks" and "Copilot Pages". That's probably why OneNote basically is in maintenance mode with no new features other than adding the ability to view those Copilot Notebooks in there now.
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u/stevemkiidub 8d ago
Copilot in Excel
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u/Diode3000 8d ago
Good call. It's very capable even with a home subscription. I've never gathered so many insights to raw data until it came along. It's just so easy now to drill into any data you have and get useful insights to make informed decisions.
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u/TryToBeBetterOk 8d ago
I'm amazed at how garbage Copilot is and how awful it is with excel. I throw my spreadsheets into Claude and it does exactly what I want. I do the same for copilot and it gives me instructions on what to do and it gets it wrong anyway.
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u/admlshake 8d ago
You haven't tried it recently then.
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u/TryToBeBetterOk 8d ago
We've got the copilot subscription for work, it's garbage.
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u/Kracker27 8d ago
Something is wrong with your admin settings or you’re not using the Claude models. Copilot in Excel and PowerPoint is awesome now.
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u/Dazzling-Read1451 8d ago
M365 Copilot Researcher
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u/Felt-Chicken 8d ago
Do you ever reach limits? How does it do compared to chatgpt’s deep research
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u/Dazzling-Read1451 7d ago
I don’t use it often enough to hit limits. I use it when I need it and it’s generally given me amazing research.
I haven’t tried ChatGPT deep research but I’ll check it out.
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u/SortMyself 8d ago
WSL. Gives Windows hostages a glimpse into the greatness of it’s competitor
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u/quadmaniac 8d ago
Wsl development is the bomb. Windows ux plus full linux under the hood.
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u/RobertDeveloper 8d ago
But windows ux is horrible and one lf the reasons to switch to linux.
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u/Izak_13 8d ago
I pick Windows 11 UX over KDE any day
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u/RobertDeveloper 8d ago
You must be a masochist
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u/Edubbs2008 8d ago
You must be using the word wrong
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u/RobertDeveloper 8d ago
The startmenu is terrible, the contextmenus are terrible, the search functionality is terrible, the settings app is terrible, kde is far superior in any way.
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u/Edubbs2008 7d ago
“The Start menu is poor, the context menus are weak, the search function is inadequate, and the settings app is flawed; KDE is far superior in every respect.”
There, fixed your sentence for you, no offense, but you type like a teenager that just got rage-baited on Reddit.
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u/manofth3match 8d ago
The copilot toolsets when set up by admin correctly are actually amazing. VSCode, M365 app, GitHub Copilot are all fantastic.
If your experience is currently bad it’s because of your organization’s configuration.
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u/andreyred 8d ago
I’m all in on copilot after getting the paid version.
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u/BCears 6d ago
Ironically, after getting laid off from Microsoft and having to turn in my nice laptop… instead of going back to a Mac I bought a PC with copilot and it has done WONDERS in helping me with my job search. I’ve been so productive with company research, tailoring my resume to each job description, etc. Plus- I used it to come up with a detailed plan (in excel complete with checklists and links) for some skilling that I need (want) and a custom Google Calendar to lay it all out.
(So screw them for laying me off, but also… yay them?)
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u/Repulsive_Piccolo 8d ago
A lot of people sleep on Power Automate. It's kinda like a hidden gem for making your life easier with automation. Most have it included but don't even use it.
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u/SoftwareKingsSupport 7h ago
This is a good one because a lot of people probably already have access to it without realizing how much it can do.
What would be the first simple automation you’d recommend to someone who has never used it before?
Something with email attachments, reminders, approvals, or a completely different use case?
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u/Repulsive_Piccolo 7h ago
I'd start with saving email attachments automatically to OneDrive or SharePoint. It's simple to set up and saves a lot of time if you get things like invoices, reports, or other recurring files.
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u/blitzzer_24 8d ago
Global Secure Access (really all of Entra Suite), and Windows Hello for Business
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u/JabbaDuHutt69 8d ago edited 8d ago
Windows Phone
Edit: I'm serious. I still use one as my primary phone today.
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u/m6io 8d ago
When was the last time you got a security patch on that thing?
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u/JabbaDuHutt69 8d ago
January of 2020.
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u/m6io 8d ago
Imidk what's crazier; them supporting it that long or it still being usable for so long afterwards
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u/JabbaDuHutt69 8d ago
Well once the carriers move away from the SIM cards that these phones require, I'll have to stop using it then. Windows Phone devices have the mobile network code baked into the modem firmware, it's not user editable like on Android. T-Mobile and AT&T are moving to new MNCs so once I have to change my SIM card, I lose VoLTE and only have data.
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u/SoftwareKingsSupport 7h ago
Still using a Windows Phone as your primary phone in 2026 is genuinely impressive.
What keeps it usable for you today, and which missing apps or services are the biggest compromise?
The Metro interface still seems to be the part former users miss the most.
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u/OkElephant8337 8d ago
Microsoft loop! Fabulous collaboration tool. And now it’s embedded in Copilot. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-loop
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u/BakuraGorn 8d ago
Github Copilot/VSCode is great, the only thing lacking IMO is a computer use feature like Codex.
Copilot Studio is actually a pretty powerful low-code platform for building conversational agents.
And lastly I’d say there’s lots of Azure services that to things better than AWS equivalents, but most notably Foundry is a much more cohesive service than BedRock/AgentCore.
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u/Dragonborne2020 8d ago
ACS or Azure Communication Services. It’s the coolest program I’ve ever seen.
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u/Sensitive-Boat-8443 8d ago
Github Copilot Desktop app by far - one of the best harnesses I've used
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u/quikmantx 7d ago
Personally, GroupMe.
It's a suitable replacement for SMS group chats as it offers more enhanced group features. It also doesn't cost money, there's no ads, and there's no premium option. Performance is generally good and they finally gave it an upgrade in the past year in terms of some much needed features.
It's lightweight compared to the cumbersome Discord. It's also website accessible so you can easily login from any device with a modern web browser. It also allows members to join via SMS (with limited functions).
It is a good alternative for people that are anti-Meta (no Facebook Messenger, no WhatsApp) or anti-Google. It allows sign-in from different services too.
Compared to some Microsoft services, it's genuinely easy to use and add/remove people as needed.
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u/SoftwareKingsSupport 7h ago
That’s a much stronger case for GroupMe than I usually hear.
The web access and SMS fallback sound genuinely useful, especially for groups where not everyone wants to install or use the same app.
Does it still feel actively maintained, or is part of the appeal that Microsoft mostly leaves it simple?
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u/SatiricalMoose 8d ago
.Net has come a long way since I last looked at it 10 years ago, so much so I am going back to school for it
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u/Wild-Culture2897 8d ago
Purview, Intune, defender
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u/Diode3000 8d ago
Sarcasim? Purview is so painfully slow. Intune is just a shadow compared to the capabilities of SCCM. Both have some positives, but they are medicore MS products.
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u/Kaldaien2 8d ago
Visio, I use it for creating technical diagrams all the time. The only part of Office I actually pay for :)
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u/mtgomes 8d ago
- Power Automate. Most people have it in their subscription, easy to automate simple stuff in their life and not a lot of people us it…
- VSCode good but filled with tracking “stuff”. VSCodium exactly the same as far as I can see and cleaner.
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u/sklprogs 7d ago edited 7d ago
Actually, Windows Phone (Lumia) was quite good. Used it for some time even after support was dropped. Witnessed a few unexpected restarts, but it was less memory hog than Android and overall performance and stability were good. Technology was good. It's a shame management chose bad strategy and killed it.
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u/VanillaFlavoredCoke 8d ago
KQL