According to an unproven legend among employees, Microsoft’s book library is so heavy that it once caused a campus building to sink. Now, many of those physical books, journals, reports, and Microsoft’s digital subscriptions to major U.S. newspapers are disappearing in a shift described internally by Microsoft as “AI-powered learning experiences.”
Microsoft began cutting back on employee subscriptions to its news and reporting services in November, and some publishers received automated emails canceling their contracts. “This communication serves as official notification that Microsoft will not renew existing agreements at their respective expiration dates,” the email from Microsoft’s vendor management team reads. “I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to everyone for their partnership, collaboration, and continued support across our efforts.”
Strategic News Service (SNS), which has provided global reporting to Microsoft’s approximately 220,000 employees and executives for more than 20 years, has been removed from Microsoft’s subscription list. In an email to Microsoft employees who relied on the SNS Report, the publisher said, “Microsoft has just announced an automatic announcement that the SNS Global Report will rescind all library agreements that are perhaps the most strategic for your own use.”
Microsoft employees I spoke with recently lost access to digital publications such as: information. You also can’t digitally check out business books from the Microsoft Library. Microsoft often rotates the publishers it uses for its library services, but this appears to be part of a broader shift that mixes a continued push for AI and cost-cutting for companies.
In an internal FAQ about the change, Microsoft says that subscriptions will not be renewed as “part of Microsoft’s transition to a more modern, AI-powered learning experience through Skilling Hub.” This means physical library spaces are also changing. The FAQ states, “As part of Microsoft’s commitment to a more modern and connected learning experience through Skilling Hub, the library has been closed.” “We know this change will impact spaces that many people value.”
It’s not clear what Microsoft plans to do with the old library space in Building 92, but it wasn’t Microsoft’s original home. The library was previously part of a now-demolished area on the second floor of Building 4 on Microsoft’s Redmond campus. Its location, above the cafeteria on the first floor, gave rise to a legend that thick books damaged the building. “The weight of the books did a lot of damage to Building 4,” veteran Windows developer Raymond Chen said in a 2020 paper. blog entry. “Some say the building is sinking, which it probably is. But we all agreed that the columns in the underground parking garage are starting to crack.”
Microsoft is currently in the midst of transitioning from its own libraries to this “AI-powered learning experience.” We understand that the company will retain some digital subscriptions, but it is not yet clear which subscriptions will remain after this transition period is complete. I reached out my hand financial times newspaper, new york timesand wall street journal We reached out to Microsoft for comment on the changes but did not receive a response in time for publication.
While most publishers are reluctant to discuss the loss of corporate contracts and subscriptions, SNS did not hold off on thinking about the future of Microsoft’s AI-powered learning. “The future of technology will be shaped by flows of power, money, innovation, and talent, none of which can be predicted based on the probabilistic regurgitation of old information through LLMs,” he says. Berrit AndersonChief Operating Officer of Strategic News Service. “We look forward to welcoming Microsoft back to the SNS community whenever they decide they would like to return.”
- British police blame Microsoft Copilot for intelligence errors. One of Britain’s biggest police forces has admitted there were errors in its intelligence reports after using Copilot to search for information. The report also included a non-existent match between West Ham and Maccabi Tel Aviv, which led to Israeli football (soccer) fans being banned from matches last year. West Midlands Police initially blamed the mistake on “social media scraping” or Google search results, but later Admitted that AI was used in the report. It is not clear which version of CoPilot was used by West Midlands Police, but it is worrying that the force relies solely on AI rather than fact-checking the output of intelligence reports. Microsoft says it has not been able to reproduce what has been reported and that the sources used by Copilot should be verified.
- Microsoft is scrambling to quell outrage over its new AI datacenters. Microsoft this week announced a five-point plan for what it calls a “community-first AI infrastructure.” These include increasing costs to prevent data center energy demands from raising people’s electricity bills, minimizing water usage, training workers and creating jobs, and contributing to local taxes near data centers. Microsoft’s plan is a response to that Opposition to the data center project surged, with some communities forcing developers to cancel or postpone the project.
- Amid the RAM shortage, PC shipments have unexpectedly increased. Last week, I outlined why 2026 will be a volatile year for the PC market, but 2025 ended well for PC manufacturers. According to IDC, PC shipments increased by 10% compared to the previous year The end of support for Windows 10 was a contributing factor to this number, but IDC notes that PC manufacturers are also aggressively bringing inventory forward to combat potential tariffs and global memory shortages. Consumers and businesses are now bracing for further price increases, especially in the second half of 2026 when RAM stocks start running low.
- Microsoft is discontinuing the Office Lens app on iOS and Android. Microsoft first released its Lens Scanner app on iOS and Android in 2015. This app allows you to take a photo of a document or whiteboard, crop it appropriately, and convert it into a Word or PDF document. Currently retired Because the same functionality is included in the OneDrive app. The Lens scanner app will no longer work after March 9th, so you’ll need to use OneDrive or find another solution for your document scanning needs.
- President Trump’s fundraisers asked Microsoft to donate to the White House ballroom. The Trump administration has reportedly approached Microsoft for a donation to help fund a $300 million White House ballroom. Documents released this week. Microsoft attended a dinner for supporters of the Ballroom Project and confirmed its donation to the National Mall Trust in September. “Microsoft understands that these funds (along with donations from other donors) will be used to support the construction of the banquet hall,” Microsoft’s attorneys said. Karen Christian.
- Microsoft has made it much easier to add hyperlinks to Word documents. Microsoft is making it faster and easier to add links to text in Word documents. Instead of opening a menu item or using the CTRL+K keyboard shortcut to insert a link, Now you can simply paste the link above the text you want to hyperlink. This is consistent with what is commonly found in modern content management systems and text editors, and is deployed in Word on the web, Windows, and Mac.
- Microsoft has ended the “Send to Kindle” feature built into Word. In early February, Microsoft announced that Buttons within Microsoft Word This allows users to send documents to devices such as Kindle Scribe. It’s still possible to send Word documents to Kindle, but you’ll need to use Amazon’s official tools instead.
- Microsoft may have just leaked the release date for Forza Horizon 6. Microsoft is preparing to reveal the first gameplay of. Forza Horizon 6 It looks like the game’s release date will be announced next week. Poster of X claims to have seen a pop-up inside Forza Horizon 5 that advertise pre-order information for Forza Horizon 6. I have not been able to reproduce the pop-up, nor have I seen any additional reports of other people seeing the pop-up, but it does list the release date as May 19th. That matches what the sources told me Forza Horizon 6 It is scheduled for May. I wasn’t expecting much from Playground Games’ other titles. fableHowever, until later this year.
- Microsoft plans to install a direct buy button on Copilot. Microsoft allows Copilot users to make purchases directly within the AI chatbot. I started asking for suggestions for clothes and sneakers. Copilot can display checkout options Allows you to purchase items within the app. OpenAI recently launched a similar checkout feature within ChatGPT. Microsoft also works with retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Ashley Furniture, and some Etsy sellers.
- Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon pay for “corporate” access to Wikipedia. Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral AI also joined Google in paying the Wikimedia Foundation for access to Wikipedia’s collection of articles. The partnership includes “tailored” API access for commercial use and AI companies. This type of access will allow Microsoft to improve Copilot’s support, and the Wikimedia Foundation will also build functionality for enterprise customers and “strive to structure data in a way that supports the needs of these enterprises.”
We always want to hear from our readers, so please leave a comment here or contact us at: notepad@theverge.com If there’s anything else you’d like to discuss. If you have heard about Microsoft’s Secret Project, please email us at: notepad@theverge.com Or talk to me privately on the Signal messaging app. I’m Tom Wallen. 01. I’m also Tom Warren on Telegram. Please chat there if you’d like.
Thank you for subscribing memo pad.