VS Code Copilot falls back from Computer Use and Python to PowerShell + COM to build an Excel workbook
dfinke · x · 2026-11-11
dfinke shares a telling agent observation: asked to turn sales.csv into a workbook, VS Code Copilot doesn't care what's trendy—only what's already on the box.
The screenshot shows the fallback ladder in action:
- Tries Computer Use first (author declined to enable it)
- Tries Python—not installed, fails
- Lands on PowerShell + COM (New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application), working with zero setup and detecting Excel 16.0
He previewed writing an MCP server so the same prompt works directly without the fallback ladder.
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