Microsoft Announces Siri Competitor Cortana, Coming With Windows Phone 8.1

[mrxak]

Apple is so worried about Samsung/Android I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft makes a huge comeback and overtake Apple in phones and tablets in the next few years. Microsoft is more aggressive than Apple in my opinion.

Microsoft and "aggressive" are two words that haven't belonged in a sentence together since Microsoft's initial rise. These days Microsoft is a slow-moving behemoth playing catch-up in every category they aren't already dominant in from actions they took a couple decades ago. Every new product category, they entered late and did poorly in. Search, music, mobile, they have a tiny slice of the pie. They were third place in gaming consoles last generation. They were a distant second in the generation before.

We'll see what happens under Microsoft's new management, but you can't possibly say Microsoft has been more aggressive than Apple over the last fifteen years. Microsoft has been notoriously risk-averse. Just ask a Microsoft engineer. The ones I've talked to say they work on some cool tech in the lab, but management only puts out products after ponderous consideration of how neatly it will fit into their existing business models. Apple, meanwhile, has basically created multiple new product categories that nobody else thought made any sense, then scrambled to copy after Apple showed the way. They've killed off products that were selling incredibly well, in order to make radical shifts in their product line-ups.

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this is just plain freaky now..

A phone that says without any response from the user, "I hope your ready for this trip" ?

I don't mind when voice know this, (which isn't is kinda not good since you don't have control over what you told it previously), but when a piece of technology knows ahead of time what your about to say, and reply before you even say it..... That's the thing which i'm not good with...

The human relation is difference, but this is technology... It's not supposed to be human, its supposed to be computers with limited capability.

I think the term "real person assistant" is the key here.. How real is too real, to the point you just wanna start running as far away as possible.

I don't mind all this stuff, but there is certain level it must stay at...

Maybe we're coming up on the uncanny valley of digital assistants.

 

[flottenheimer]

3rd party SDK + making Windows licenses free for mobile.
Two smart moves by Microsoft.

God, I love competition. Now, go Apple.

 

[darkplanets]

Will this Cortana go rampant as well? I don't want her going crazy, yelling at me and being all emotional while deleting my emails.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

Siri is voice control only. Cortana you can use voice and keyboard input.

That's better already.

 

[peterdevries]

I just wish they'd get rid of Siri all together. I was probably one of the first people to turn it off on the iphone 4S.

Then what's your problem if you can turn it off?

 

[69650]

Really? Siri works for me nearly every time. Even in more noisy situations.

Honestly? I have so many problems. It doesn't recognise what I say half the time. Sometimes it jumps in before I've finished talking. I find it quicker just to type stuff instead. I don't know why. I don't have the same problems with the Google voice apps like Translate.

 

[apple rocks!]

I love Siri, I find it to be very useful in my day to day activities.

Cortana looks pretty awesome, I can't wait to try it out. I never switched to Android because they don't have a decent personal assistant like Siri, and still don't. Windows phone is looking pretty enticing these days and may get me off of iOS after all these years.

Erm...Google now smokes siri in most areas, take the blinkers off kid..

 

[apple rocks!]

This is par for the course where Microsoft is concerned. They did, after, copy the windows OS from Macintosh's. On the other hand, any voice control system from now on is going resemble the next one. Apple just did it better than anyone else first. Let the competition grow!

If we are gonna post comments, then lets make them honest.. apple didn't do it better first, they bought siri which was an app and Integrated it into ios , which is completely different.. but even then u had Google voice actions which wasn't bad and there were several apps available as well, evie and one called personal assistant which seemed to work quite well..

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Exactly, however Apple currently has the fastest phone on the market and their fingerprint sensor works above all others. That's 2007 for ya.

64 bit doesn't mean it's the fastest, check out any recent benchmark results...

 

[whooleytoo]

I wonder how long it'll be before some kid starts playing Halo 9 and wonders why they called a game character after the Windows Phone assistant..

 

[jonnysods]

People love to rip MS here, but I have to say I love the look of the Metro interface. And this looks cool.

One thing I hate about Siri is that you can't do anything without the internet. You can't even make a reminder without it, and that doesn't make sense to me. I should at least be able to create a calendar appointment or set reminders offline. No biggie though.

 

[Jeff Flowerday]

IMO, Apple has nothing to fear but if Windows Phone gets a foothold, it will hurt Android more than it will iOS. I've only played with it, but it seems like a decent mobile OS and now that there are a few hundred million Windows 8 pc's out there, some of those people may go for Windows phone over Android. Thoughts?

I can see the corporate world really getting onboard with Windows Phone 8.1. WP8 wasn't ready but WP8.1 adds everything they need.

I work for a company with 50,000 employees, they currently use iPhones but that will come to an end shortly. They are going to start moving to WP 8.1

 

[spinedoc77]

Are you nuts???

Android has the BEST personal assistant. It's called Google Now, which is even better than Siri on the iPhone.

On an Android device, Google Now is freely integrated into the OS (unlike the IOS version) and it works with most apps.

Whats even better about GN than Siri is that Google takes notice of questions people ask and creates info cards for them. You get much more accurate answers, and fast.

Download Google Now for IOS if you don't have it. You have to open the app because of Apple's restrictions but it's so much better than Siri.

The only edge Apple may have is location based reminders. "Remind me to buy shampoo when I'm at Target." Google Now isn't so good with that... but if I remember, it almost never worked on my last iPhone either. Well, maybe when I was two miles away from target after having finished my shopping...

Google now sucks as a personal assistant, this is MY opinion and how it functions in terms of my day to day needs. I love Google Now for some things, but as a personal assistant it falls quite short of Siri. I'm not saying Siri is really that good either, that's why I have high hopes for Cortana.

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Erm...Google now smokes siri in most areas, take the blinkers off kid..

Not in the functions I need on a day to day basis. Blinders are not understanding different people may have different needs.

 

[brianvictor7]

If we are gonna post comments, then lets make them honest.. apple didn't do it better first, they bought siri which was an app and Integrated it into ios , which is completely different.. but even then u had Google voice actions which wasn't bad and there were several apps available as well, evie and one called personal assistant which seemed to work quite well..

Agreed, hence I chose my words carefully, "Apple just did it better than anyone else first." Apple didn't do the first voice control system for a smartphone. They did, however, do the first good one.

 

[brianvictor7]

Erm...Google now smokes siri in most areas, take the blinkers off kid..

Google Now is about 20% more accurate by my own admittedly subjective experience. Also, I like that Google Now doesn't make you wait to see whether or not it is translating your text correctly.

On my wish list: I would love to see Siri made into a voice control that doesn't rely on connectivity for every little task.

 

[sbrhwkp3]

The Halo nerd in me loves this.

 

[Thunderhawks]

I just wish they'd get rid of Siri all together. I was probably one of the first people to turn it off on the iphone 4S.

Rarely use it. Was fun in the beginning for jokes, but has ways to go before being really functional
(as in helpful)!

 

[TouchMint.com]

Ya because the new CEO, who's been there for just a few months, is responsible for all of the recent Microsoft releases. That's some amazing efficiency right there.

Not all but I would bet quite a bit he gave the final word on releasing office for iOS. There have rumors going back years that office for ios has been done but the strategy was to hold it back to sell more windows phones.

Another big change is removing licensing cost for windows 8 on phones and small tablets.

Another change is offering the $100 to upgrade from windows xp.

Another change is lowering price on cloud offerings.

Another change is allowing cross platform app building for xbox, win8 and win8phone.

While he didnt make all these changes himself it seems quite a few of them were simply decisions and as a CEO he atleast had the final say on them.

 

[Gasu E.]

Very exotic-sounding name. When I hear 'Cortana', I envision an Amazonian woman wearing leopard skin around her hips with large juicy breasts.

CORRRR-TANA!!

Apparently, the name was going to be "Ms. Clippy", but that got vetoed by MS marketing.

 

[WallToWallMacs]

Watching the keynote from the BUILD 2014 conference - universal Windows applications, Cortana, the return of the start menu, metro applications in window form, Office based on WinRT - all I can say is that Apple should watch out and get their act together. Honestly, here we are in 2014 and us users are still having to deal with SMB2 still being a giant mess, drivers that are subpar at best - I hope Apple pull finger and do something rather than focusing on useless features that quite frankly only benefit those who are attracted to shiny things like flies to a bug zapper.

 

[DavidG328]

No. And I use Siri all the time, so I'm glad it's on my iPhone.

Other than to show people they had Siri, I've never seen anyone actually use it for anything else.

 

[cmChimera]

Other than to show people they had Siri, I've never seen anyone actually use it for anything else.

Are you implying that that's all I use it for?

 

[kitsap2]

I know this is a very minor thing to point out, but I think Cortana, just to say is 1 syllable too long, and as insignificant as this sounds, I think that matters with a name that is meant to be "catchy"

My sentiments, exactly! They should have resurrected, Microsoft Bob, in a walking dead type version.

 

[Rafterman]

Cortana, Siri - what the F is it with all these weird-azz names?

 

[BvizioN]

Isn't it still in beta after all these years?

Possibly, but personally I don't care if it's beta or not. I use it daily and find it helpful. I am sure many others do as well.

 

[cwwilson]

I just wish they'd get rid of Siri all together. I was probably one of the first people to turn it off on the iphone 4S.

Lol. "I don't like it so I don't want anyone else to have it either!"