Microsoft starts canceling Claude Code licenses

微软开始取消 Claude Code 许可证

Microsoft first started opening up access to Claude Code in December, inviting thousands of its own developers to use Anthropic’s AI coding tool daily. It was part of an effort to get project managers, designers, and other employees to experiment with coding for the first time, and sources tell me that Claude Code has proved very popular inside Microsoft over the past six months. Perhaps a little too popular, as Microsoft is now preparing to walk back its Claude Code push.

微软于去年 12 月首次开放了 Claude Code 的访问权限，邀请数千名内部开发人员日常使用 Anthropic 的 AI 编程工具。这是微软旨在鼓励项目经理、设计师及其他员工首次尝试编程的举措之一。据消息人士透露，过去六个月里，Claude Code 在微软内部非常受欢迎。或许是因为太受欢迎了，微软现在正准备收回对 Claude Code 的推广。

I understand that Microsoft is planning to remove most of its Claude Code licenses and push many of its developers to use Copilot CLI instead. While Claude Code has been a popular addition, it has also undermined Microsoft’s new GitHub Copilot CLI coding tool — a command line version of GitHub Copilot that runs outside of development apps like Visual Studio Code.

据我了解，微软计划取消大部分 Claude Code 许可证，并推动许多开发人员转而使用 Copilot CLI。尽管 Claude Code 是一个受欢迎的补充工具，但它也削弱了微软自家的 GitHub Copilot CLI 编程工具——这是一款在 Visual Studio Code 等开发应用之外运行的 GitHub Copilot 命令行版本。

I’m told that Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices team, which includes the engineers responsible for Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and Surface, is winding down its usage of Claude Code by the end of June. Sources tell me that engineers are being encouraged to start transitioning their workflows to GitHub Copilot CLI in the coming weeks, ahead of the cutoff.

据我所知，微软的“体验与设备”（Experiences + Devices）团队（包括负责 Windows、Microsoft 365、Outlook、Microsoft Teams 和 Surface 的工程师）将在 6 月底前逐步停止使用 Claude Code。消息人士称，工程师们已被鼓励在未来几周内，即截止日期前，开始将工作流程迁移至 GitHub Copilot CLI。

Microsoft is telling employees that the decision is about converging on Copilot CLI as its main agentic command line interface tool across Experiences + Devices, but sources tell me the decision is also a financial one. The June 30th cutoff is the last day of Microsoft’s current financial year, and canceling Claude Code licenses is an easy way to cut some operating expenses for when the new financial year starts in July.

微软告知员工，此举是为了将 Copilot CLI 确立为“体验与设备”部门主要的智能代理命令行工具，但消息人士指出，这一决定也出于财务考量。6 月 30 日是微软本财年的最后一天，取消 Claude Code 许可证是削减运营开支的简便方法，以便为 7 月开始的新财年做准备。

“When we began offering both Copilot CLI and Claude Code, our goal was to learn quickly, benchmark the tools in real engineering workflows, and understand what best supported our teams,” says Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of Microsoft’s experiences and devices group, in an internal memo seen by Notepad. “Claude Code was an important part of that learning… at the same time, Copilot CLI has given us something especially important: a product we can help shape directly with GitHub for Microsoft’s repos, workflows, security expectations, and engineering needs.”

“当我们开始同时提供 Copilot CLI 和 Claude Code 时，我们的目标是快速学习，在实际工程工作流程中对这些工具进行基准测试，并了解什么最能支持我们的团队，”微软体验与设备部门执行副总裁 Rajesh Jha 在一份内部备忘录中写道。“Claude Code 是这一学习过程的重要组成部分……与此同时，Copilot CLI 为我们提供了一些特别重要的东西：一个我们可以直接与 GitHub 合作，针对微软的代码库、工作流程、安全预期和工程需求进行塑造的产品。”

The transition away from Claude Code won’t be an easy one for engineers inside Microsoft, though. Microsoft had been encouraging employees without any coding experience to experiment with Claude Code, allowing designers and project managers to prototype ideas. Microsoft had also originally expected employees to use both Claude Code and GitHub Copilot, to compare the two and provide feedback.

然而，对于微软内部的工程师来说，放弃 Claude Code 的过渡过程并不容易。微软此前一直鼓励没有编程经验的员工尝试使用 Claude Code，让设计师和项目经理能够进行原型设计。微软最初也期望员工同时使用 Claude Code 和 GitHub Copilot，以便对两者进行比较并提供反馈。

Microsoft’s own developers have favored Claude Code over GitHub Copilot CLI in recent months instead, and there are still gaps between the products that will now need to be addressed. Microsoft had reportedly considered acquiring Cursor in recent months to help close the GitHub Copilot gap, but has started looking at different AI startups to bolster its AI ambitions and avoid potential regulatory scrutiny.

近几个月来，微软自己的开发人员反而更青睐 Claude Code 而非 GitHub Copilot CLI，目前这两款产品之间仍存在需要解决的差距。据报道，微软近几个月曾考虑收购 Cursor 以帮助缩小与 GitHub Copilot 的差距，但目前已开始寻求其他 AI 初创公司，以增强其 AI 雄心并避免潜在的监管审查。

“We are partnering closely with GitHub and continue to improve Copilot CLI for Microsoft engineers,” says Jha. “The GitHub team has already shipped significant improvements based on Microsoft feedback, and Experiences + Devices will remain closely involved in shaping the product. This is a shared accountability across GitHub and E+D leadership: to make Copilot CLI the best agentic coding experience for Microsoft engineers.”

“我们正在与 GitHub 密切合作，并继续为微软工程师改进 Copilot CLI，”Jha 表示。“GitHub 团队已经根据微软的反馈发布了重大改进，‘体验与设备’部门将继续密切参与产品的塑造。这是 GitHub 和 E+D 领导层的共同责任：让 Copilot CLI 成为微软工程师的最佳智能代理编程体验。”

Anthropic’s models will remain accessible through Copilot CLI, along with internal-only Microsoft models and OpenAI’s range of models. I understand that Microsoft is planning to invest more in Copilot CLI so it’s deeply integrated into Microsoft’s own engineering workflows. Microsoft is also encouraging developers to file bug reports and feedback on Copilot CLI ahead of Claude Code being removed.

Anthropic 的模型仍将通过 Copilot CLI 提供访问，同时还包括微软内部模型和 OpenAI 的系列模型。据我了解，微软计划加大对 Copilot CLI 的投入，使其深度集成到微软自身的工程工作流程中。微软还鼓励开发人员在 Claude Code 被移除之前，提交关于 Copilot CLI 的错误报告和反馈。

Microsoft quickly became one of Anthropic’s top customers earlier this year and has even reportedly been counting selling Anthropic AI models toward its own Azure sales quotas. Microsoft also signed a deal with Anthropic in November that allows Microsoft Foundry customers to get access to Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Opus 4.1, and Claude Haiku 4.5.

今年早些时候，微软迅速成为 Anthropic 的顶级客户之一，据报道甚至将销售 Anthropic AI 模型计入其自身的 Azure 销售配额。微软还在 11 月与 Anthropic 签署了一项协议，允许 Microsoft Foundry 客户访问 Claude Sonnet 4.5、Claude Opus 4.1 和 Claude Haiku 4.5。

The decision to cancel Claude Code licenses won’t have any impact on the Foundry deal, and Microsoft employees still continue to favor Anthropic’s Claude models inside Microsoft 365 apps and Copilot, where they’re more capable at certain tasks than OpenAI’s counterparts. Microsoft also worked closely with Anthropic recently to bring the technology behind Claude Cowork into Microsoft 365 Copilot.

取消 Claude Code 许可证的决定不会对 Foundry 协议产生任何影响，微软员工在 Microsoft 365 应用和 Copilot 中仍继续青睐 Anthropic 的 Claude 模型，因为它们在某些任务上的表现比 OpenAI 的同类产品更出色。微软最近还与 Anthropic 密切合作，将 Claude Cowork 背后的技术引入了 Microsoft 365 Copilot。

The pressure is now on Microsoft’s GitHub team to improve Copilot CLI and try to surpass Claude Code in the process. Microsoft told me last year that 91 percent of its engineering teams were using GitHub Copilot, but Claude Code usage over the past six months has definitely had an impact on that number. Microsoft now wants to turn GitHub Copilot usage around and have its own engineers once again improving its own AI coding tool.

现在，微软 GitHub 团队面临着改进 Copilot CLI 并努力在此过程中超越 Claude Code 的压力。微软去年曾告诉我，其 91% 的工程团队都在使用 GitHub Copilot，但过去六个月 Claude Code 的使用情况无疑对这一数字产生了影响。微软现在希望扭转 GitHub Copilot 的使用趋势，让自己的工程师再次致力于改进其自家的 AI 编程工具。