Cortana will be included in Windows 9
Cortana, Microsoft’s voice-instructed virtual assistant and Siri’s opponent (who is also the female character from the Xbox game Halo), is said to be available in Windows 9. Windows 9 (or Windows 8.2, as some call it) will be unveiled in San Francisco next week (30th of September). The digital assistant was already included in the Windows 8.1 phone update and users are generally satisfied with her- with a significant percentage stating that it’s even better than Siri.
Cortana’s features in the Windows Phone
If you use Cortana you know you have many benefits; just by talking to her she can search and find stuff from Bing, Google or other services like Foursquare plus gather information regarding your preferences and output more personalized results (which is quite expected from a voice recognition virtual assistant), but she can also handle incoming calls and messages while you are asleep, or keep notes of important things that you want to be reminded of in her notebook. She can be customized to call you by different nicknames as well.
This is how it looks like in Windows phone:
So, what does she bring in Windows 9?
Most of these features will be transferred over to Windows 9 for desktops, as some leaks and details have shown. She will be able to access to your data (if you allow her to) and try to build a profile for you in order to provide more accurate results when you perform search queries. In fact, she will index your local data, monitor your work and understand your habits so that she can help you with daily tasks and predict your actions.
What Microsoft wants to focus on however is Cortana’s ability to deliver accurate online information to your easily. Bing, the tech company’s search engine is underrated by many, giving Microsoft a headache in finding a way to promote it better; in Windows 9, apart from the information Cortana will be giving you about the weather, news, sports, events, etc. she will also be using Bing’s search engine to look up answers for the questions you ask her. Data she gathers will be used to build your profile for more accurate and relevant information in the future. Microsoft has stated that Cortana will be updated at least twice a month, which will certainly make her a significantly more powerful and consequently popular virtual assistant, than she is now.
Have you tried out Cortana in your Windows phone? Or are you a Siri fan? Let us know your opinion in the comments below!
