Microsoft Announces Cortana For iPhone Available Later This Year

[RogerWilco]

While you sit there with your pom poms out, Windows and Office haven't taken evolutionary steps in years. It's really the same old crap year after year. Microsoft truly gets their ideas from Apple and Google and follow up with a "me too" product that no one is interested in. They could easily innovate on the gaming PC side of things at least since they own it. They won't though because they need Apple or Google to show them how first.

I've used Macs since 1986, and my current desktop is a 2011 Mac Pro - still on X.6.8 because I cannot stomach what Apple has released since. Same old crap you say? Yes, Apple has really stepped up its game with Pages & Numbers, and how about that new Photos app -- LOL. iOS is a productivity dead end. If MSFT can create a workable multi-device, unified OS strategy with W10, my thirty year marriage to Apple products may be coming to an end.

 

[bbeagle]

Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Phone 8, Office, Azure are all infinitely better than their Apple counterparts. Windows 10 runs better on a new Mac than the latest version of Mac OS does.

Good one!

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Spend one month with Word/Excel and one month with Pages/Numbers.

Then get back to me.

I used Word/Excel for over 10 YEARS. Hated them. Worst pieces of crap EVER.

Moved to Pages/Numbers for the past 5 years. Love them.

 

[Michael Goff]

Good one!

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I used Word/Excel for over 10 YEARS. Hated them. Worst pieces of crap EVER.

Moved to Pages/Numbers for the past 5 years. Love them.

I take it you're not an advanced spreadsheet user?

 

[jedifaka]

They're not really the same concept

While it's probably easiest to conceive of Cortana as a Microsoft-branded Siri, it isn't really. The voice stuff is just an interface. The application is about predictive assistance and facilitating interaction.

I used it in my short-lived Windows Phone experiment and found most of its value had nothing to do with talking to the thing.

It's a very handy and consistent way to work on a computer. Like very next-level spotlight.

 

[santaliqueur]

I like the new Microsoft. Satya Nutella is a great CEO so far.

Nutella, seriously? You must be hungry.

 

[bbeagle]

I think bbeagle is just trolling. There's no way Numbers can match Excel

Not at all. I want a simpler experience that gives me the ability to put in numbers, do calculations, and allow graphics and pie charts / graphs. Infinitely easier in Numbers.

Keynote is MILES ahead of Powerpoint for pretty much everything. Numbers and Pages are better if you want simplicity.

 

[Michael Goff]

Not at all. I want a simpler experience that gives me the ability to put in numbers, do calculations, and allow graphics and pie charts / graphs. Infinitely easier in Numbers.

Keynote is MILES ahead of Powerpoint for pretty much everything. Numbers and Pages are better if you want simplicity.

In other words, simplicity is king to you and thus a more complex and capable piece of software is ... bad?

 

[bbeagle]

I take it you're not an advanced spreadsheet user?

Not everyone is. For my uses in the past 30 years, I do not need Microsoft Excel. I used it as my primary spreadsheet for over 10 years, hated how they kept changing the interface, and made it more cumbersome.

What 'advanced' uses do you have that can't be done with Numbers?

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In other words, simplicity is king to you and thus a more complex and capable piece of software is ... bad?

Yes.

If it takes me longer to create something on a more complex piece of software, yes, it's bad.

If I can't create what I want, then I need more complex software, but I haven't found anything I need to do that can't be done in Numbers.

 

[santaliqueur]

I take it you're not an advanced spreadsheet user?

Why is this always the argument? Most people can get by with Numbers just fine. Just because some people can't means nothing. Those who need Excel can pay for it. Most don't.

 

[Michael Goff]

Not everyone is. For my uses in the past 30 years, I do not need Microsoft Excel. I used it as my primary spreadsheet for over 10 years, hated how they kept changing the interface, and made it more cumbersome.

What 'advanced' uses do you have that can't be done with Numbers?

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Yes.

If it takes me longer to create something on a more complex piece of software, yes, it's bad.

If I can't create what I want, then I need more complex software, but I haven't found anything I need to do that can't be done in Numbers.

So Numbers is better for you. That doesn't make Excel bad.

Why is this always the argument? Most people can get by with Numbers just fine. Just because some people can't means nothing. Those who need Excel can pay for it. Most don't.

Most users of Excel or Numbers aren't Advanced Users.

 

[PJL500]

Hopefully it will be a big improvement on Siri. Siri can be dangerous while driving... it is so distracting to have to keep repeating something simple before giving up.

 

[HenryDJP]

I really hope they pull this off with Win10 and a better supported phone OS.

Apple is the giant these days and we need a new hungry underdog with some fresh ideas and some good alternative products.

Hmm, years back that was said about Microsoft. Honestly Microsoft has enjoyed being the giant with their office suite and Windows. Let Apple and Google handle the phone stuff. I'm honestly tired of Microsoft dominating and monopolizing everything over the past few years.

 

[Black Magic]

I've used Macs since 1986, and my current desktop is a 2011 Mac Pro - still on X.6.8 because I cannot stomach what Apple has released since. Same old crap you say? Yes, Apple has really stepped up its game with Pages & Numbers, and how about that new Photos app -- LOL. iOS is a productivity dead end. If MSFT can create a workable multi-device, unified OS strategy with W10, my thirty year marriage to Apple products may be coming to an end.

If you haven't seen how OS X syncs most services seamlessly with your iOS devices then I'm not sure what to tell you. OS X has been innovative and having all your information anywhere or being able to text from any device is truly productive. You can't do the same with Windows systems right now. Not even close without downloading third party utilities (maybe). With OS X, it's built right in.

Oh and if you looking forward to paying a subscription fee for most of your services with future Windows 10 PCs, enjoy. Microsoft is moving in that direction and the goal is to get Windows 10 on all these systems to siphon your money.

Good luck!

 

[HenryDJP]

To all these people stating "Siri is terrible"... the only thing terrible is the degree of exaggeration on MacRumors. Siri is more than adequate, if you know it's limits and quirks.

Agreed. Siri is 95% success for me. For the people saying Siri can't hear them and comes up with crazy results, it's most likely due to that person's form of speech. Most people are using the same version of Siri. One can't have bad results while the other has excellent results unless somebody has poor speech or poor enunciation.

 

[sracer]

I really like how Microsoft are open to integration with other devices and not just their own OS.

Which would be great if the "other devices" were equally as open to integration.

 

[l3it3r]

Does anyone know if Cortana is going to be available for XBOX ONE?
The voice interface on XBOX ONE is completely wretched. If you don't say the EXACT phrase that it needs it will do nothing for you. It needs to have some leeway in understanding what someone wants to do.

One of the many reasons I sold my Xbox One

I'm looking forward to having all three (Siri, Google, and Cortana) on the iPhone. I find that Siri is great for integrated tasks, and Google's app is unbelievably useful for web searches and even slightly off-the-wall requests. If Cortana is really as contextually aware as the videos suggest, that will make it even better. Maybe (since they've been opening up a lot of these system functions lately) they'll even offer 'virtual assistant' selection which could open up competition even further? Settings -> General -> Virtual Assistant (Default: Siri, Store..) Having the ability to 'ok google' or 'hey cortana' or 'hey siri' all on the same device without having to launch the competing virtual assistant's app first? I suppose you can say, Hey Siri, open Cortana in the mean time. lol

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Rumor has it Cortana won't be out until nearer to the end of the year.

It could be a niche hit. Siri has gotten better...

 

[Black Magic]

So Numbers is better for you. That doesn't make Excel bad.



Most users of Excel or Numbers aren't Advanced Users.

Microsoft Excel, Word and Powerpoint are the standards and leaders product wise in the market. No question. Having said that, most folks can get by with a free version of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote as many features in Microsoft Office go unused.

If Microsoft Office was free along with the iWork suite, most folks probably would pick Office.

I'm surprised you are even arguing to folks that say otherwise. Anyone that works in a business knows this to be true. It's that obvious.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

That's not what he was saying. He said Microsoft is good at acting like a software company. Totally different thing.

So is Apple.

With some of the issues with iOS lately, I'm wondering who they farmed out the development to.

My iPhone crashed twice last week to the Apple logo. It has NEVER done that until then. My MBP crashed a couple of weeks ago. Totally out of the blue. **BOOM** Firefox has gotten a little flaky too of late.

Poop happens, but when you have owners of your slightly older devices complaining about the 'update' hammering them, and people complaining about a crescendo of hard crashes all of the sudden, there is something wrong and it really needs to be discovered and fixed, especially if it's in the development/debugging/testing area.

 

[Michael Goff]

Microsoft Excel, Word and Powerpoint are the standards and leaders product wise in the market. No question. Having said that, most folks can get by with a free version of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote as many features in Microsoft Office go unused.

If Microsoft Office was free along with the iWork suite, most folks probably would pick Office.

I'm surprised you are even arguing to folks that say otherwise. Anyone that works in a business knows this to be true. It's that obvious.

Hell, most people could pull up Google Pages, Slides, and Sheets or whatever they're called and be happy.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I'm surprised you are even arguing to folks that say otherwise. Anyone that works in a business knows this to be true. It's that obvious.

Aside from the quality issues, and the notorious bugs in Office over the years, the UI is disgusting. The whole 'ribbon' thing should have been tossed years ago.

I had one client take a look at the 'ribbon', and use a trial version of Office for a month, and they totally backed out of getting it, and went with OpenOffice.

There are *some* businesses that value PRODUCTIVITY over DUCK-DUCK-WADDLE-WADDLE and find that they can function far better without blindly following everyone else (off the cliff).

Heck, Office isn't even compatible with the Open Doc 'standard', and even with documents from some previous versions of the suite!

 

[Michael Goff]

Aside from the quality issues, and the notorious bugs in Office over the years, the UI is disgusting. The whole 'ribbon' thing should have been tossed years ago.

I had one client take a look at the 'ribbon', and use a trial version of Office for a month, and they totally backed out of getting it, and went with OpenOffice.

There are *some* businesses that value PRODUCTIVITY over DUCK-DUCK-WADDLE-WADDLE and find that they can function far better without blindly following everyone else (off the cliff).

Heck, Office isn't even compatible with the Open Doc 'standard', and even with documents from some previous versions of the suite!

No, the Ribbon should not have been tossed out years ago. And your anecdotal response also means very little. Most enterprises use Office because it works for what they need. If OpenOffice did, they'd move to that ... companies don't like paying for things they don't need.

 

[laurim]

Spend one month with Word/Excel and one month with Pages/Numbers.

Then get back to me.

I love Page/Numbers WAY more than Word and Excel. So much easier to use and they do everything I need them to do. Double that for Keynote vs PowerPoint. I do all my business accounting and invoices in Numbers. I chart my money coming in so I know where I stand compared to past years and calculate how much estimated tax I need to pay. I also plan home improvement projects in Numbers. It's great!

And I also love Siri (actually, I call him Cyril because I use the british male voice ) Every now and then, he may have difficulty understanding a proper noun of a street or person but a simple modification of how I pronounce them gets me what I want. It's so much easier to ask Cyril "what's 4.5 inches in millimeters" than typing in the conversion by hand in some app.

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I really like how Microsoft are open to integration with other devices and not just their own OS.

They would be in danger of dying if they didn't. It's not magnanimous on their part, it's need.

 

[laurim]

No, the Ribbon should not have been tossed out years ago. And your anecdotal response also means very little. Most enterprises use Office because it works for what they need. If OpenOffice did, they'd move to that ... companies don't like paying for things they don't need.

Most enterprises continue to use Office because switching everyone to something else is more work than they want to take on, even if it makes sense in the long run. Business inertia is the reason Microsoft is still alive.

I hate my life every time I'm forced to use an Office product. Just trying to edit something in Powerpoint and that damn ribbon keeps changing away from the set of tools I want to use makes me want to toss the computer across the room! Not to mention the fact that in 2015, the measurement units of slide size are still inches. INCHES!! Inches might have been useful back in the days of printing slides out on transparencies but since then, totally useless.

 

[Michael Goff]

Most enterprises continue to use Office because switching everyone to something else is more work than they want to take on, even if it makes sense in the long wrong. Business inertia is the reason Microsoft is still alive.

I hate my life every time I'm forced to use an Office product. Just trying to edit something in Powerpoint and that damn ribbon keeps changing away from the set of tools I want to use makes me want to toss the computer across the room! Not to mention the fact that in 2015, the measurement units of slide size are still inches. INCHES!! Inches might have been useful back in the days of printing slides out on transparencies but since then, totally useless.

People keep saying it's inertia, but nobody ever provides proof. It's just one of those things people repeat.