Request for Consistent Search Experience Regardless of Copilot License

Microsoft has long positioned Unified Search as a consistent experience for all users. With the introduction of Copilot, that vision now feels increasingly fragmented.

I fully understand that non-Copilot licensed users should not receive Copilot-specific capabilities such as summaries, overviews, follow-up questioning, or FAQ generation. That differentiation makes sense.

However, beyond those value-added features, the core search experience should remain consistent regardless of licensing.

Today, that is not the case. Non-licensed users are presented with a completely different and noticeably older UI, while licensed users get the modern Copilot-driven experience. This creates two parallel search experiences within the same organisation, which directly contradicts the idea of unified search.

From what we are seeing, the legacy experience appears to be receiving little to no future investment, while Microsoft is focusing almost entirely on Copilot. The result is a growing divide in both usability and capability across the user base.

At a minimum, it would make sense for:

• The same core UI to be available to all users
• Copilot-licensed users to receive additional enhancements such as summaries and overviews layered on top
• Semantic search capabilities to be broadly available, not fully gated by licensing

Beyond this, there are ongoing challenges with Copilot (Graph) Connectors, and continued uncertainty around the future of SharePoint Search. Despite numerous known issues, there is little visible clarity or direction, even when engaging directly with Microsoft.

Copilot is clearly a major strategic investment, but it should not come at the expense of foundational experiences. There are still many core capabilities across Microsoft 365 that require attention, and from a customer perspective, the roadmap for addressing these gaps remains unclear.

Microsoft has an opportunity here to reinforce trust by ensuring consistency, clarity, and continued investment in the broader platform, not just Copilot.