The first episode after a quiet summer, and the thread running through all of it is cost and renames. Kevin opens with a confession: he spun up Cowork to write these very show notes, it ran out of budget overnight, and once he topped the budget up it burned through 2,381 credits, which
he puts at twenty to thirty quid for maybe a fifth of what he wanted. That story turns out to be the episode in miniature, because Copilot Studio GitHub Harness has gone generally available in August based on a usage-based credit model, and this time the meter runs while you are
still building.
Around that we have another rename and a flattened logo, Microsoft's FY26 Q4 results with over thirty million paid Copilot seats, a leaked memo saying the AI app group has to earn the right to exist, a proper argument about whether 43 minutes a day is still how we talk
about value, and a long run through the autumn events season. Plus AI slop, blue rings, and a festival planning app nobody asked for but made all the difference.

Links:

https://www.howmanyblueringsshouldihave.com/

https://amireallyadualawardmvp.com/

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/copilot-studio-blog/more-powerful-agents-and-workflows-for-autonomous-business-processes-introducing/4542969

https://microsoft.github.io/mcscatblog/posts/copilot-harness-cost-governance/

https://futurework.blog/2026/08/14/microsoft-copilot-app-one-app-new-name-new-icon-new-url/

https://robquickenden.blog/2026/08/copilot-unified-app/

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/30/fy26-q4-microsoft-results/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7490143154260701184-rlGF

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maryleenemeric_microsoft-microsoft365-copilotstudio-activity-7485892013830266880-rUJI

Events:

• https://ainativeworkplace.com/
• https://www.collabdays.org/2026-bletchleypark/
• https://www.scottishsummit.com
• https://espc.tech/conference/espc-2026

This week on The Copilot Connection, Kevin and Zoe dive into the growing impact of FinOps and tokenomics in the Copilot era.

From insights at Commsverse to real-world concerns, we explore how tools like Copilot and Cowork are shifting organisations from fixed licensing to consumption-driven models - bringing both opportunity and uncertainty.

The discussion focuses on balancing cost vs value, the importance of governance and guardrails, and why organisations must carefully pilot AI usage rather than roll it out blindly. They also highlight the challenge of helping users choose the right tool for the right task without driving up unnecessary costs.

Useful links:

• Cowork cost management overview — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/usage-based-billing-manage-copilot-credits
• Cowork Cost Estimator -https://aka.ms/CustomerCoworkEstimator
• Cowork Adoption site - https://adoption.microsoft.com/en-gb/copilot/cowork/ai-user/
• Cost management demo - https://demos.microsoft.com/app/present/6694#/0/0
• An unsuspecting bill - https://www.reddit.com/r/copilotstudio/comments/1ueqedl/woke_up_to_a_47k_bill_after_deploying_one_copilot/
• More on unsuspecting bills - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peter-sabapathy-71a88145_a-post-on-reddit-this-week-described-someone-share-7475913687963467778-xsXa

In this episode of The Copilot Connection, Kevin McDonnell and Garry Trinder dive deep into the biggest developer-focused announcements coming out of Microsoft Build—and what they actually mean in practice.

We unpack a fast-moving couple of weeks in AI, from the shift in how Microsoft shares Build news (goodbye Book of News, hello live blog and CLI tooling), to the hands-on, lab-heavy focus that signals a return to Build’s developer roots. Expect plenty of perspective on what stood out, what worked, and what felt different this year.

The conversation then turns to one of the headline releases: Copilot Cowork now generally available. Kevin and Garry explore how Cowork changes the way we interact with Copilot - moving from simple chat to task-driven, cloud-executed workflows with deeper Microsoft 365 integration. They share real-world usage patterns, from daily task triage to cross-device workflows, and discuss the impact of its new consumption-based pricing model (and why “value over tokens” is the mindset shift we all need).

From there, they step into the more experimental space with Microsoft Scout—a local, autonomous agent inspired by OpenClaw that introduces concepts like heartbeats, browser automation, and powerful extensibility. The duo compare Scout vs Cowork, weighing up local vs cloud agents, flexibility vs control, and the growing importance of governance as agents gain more autonomy.

Useful Links

• https://build.microsoft.com/
• Build Live Blog
• Build Blog - be yourself at work
• Build Next Steps GitHub Repo
• Cowork GA
• The Cowork Cookbook (community link)
• Microsoft Scout
• Work IQ GA
• Work IQ Licensing
• Windows Platform Security
• Project Solara
• Surface Laptop Ultra
• Surface RTX Spark Dev Box