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SRLMJ23

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2008
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Central New York
Siri on our iOS/WatchOS devices is amazing (especially on iOS 9 and the :apple: Watch) but also Microsoft has Cortana in Windows 10, and she is pretty good. Now I see this new Amazon Echo device with a digital assistant named Alexa. I really think Apple is missing out by not including Siri in OS X El Capitan! The way Apple implements things, I really think they would nail it and she would be amazing on the desktop!

  • Oh well, maybe in the next version of OS X?! Just had to have a quick rant about that!!!

    :apple:
 
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I think it would be a silly move but that's just me...

Why do you think it would be a silly move? I'm not disagreeing with you, just curious to know why you think that.

Personally I really don't understand all the hype about Siri for mac OSX. I mean are people really going to use it heavily on a regular basis on the office or home desktop!?

I'm sure it will come to OSX eventually but I'm surprised by the apparent high demand for it.
 
On Windows Cortana it is really good for doing quick things like making appointments, checking weather, football scores, et, without typing words and clicking several times. I like the fact that I can be putting on my clothes and tell the computer to do stuff at the same time.
 
Windows needed to make Cortana part of its desktop os as that's where it almost exclusively lives these days.

If you've got a Mac, you've probably got an iPhone / iPad and possibly and Apple Watch where you can interact with Siri if you need to. Plus, the new Spotlight will do most of what siri does (weather, scores, web searches, etc.).
 
Why do you think it would be a silly move? I'm not disagreeing with you, just curious to know why you think that.

Personally I really don't understand all the hype about Siri for mac OSX. I mean are people really going to use it heavily on a regular basis on the office or home desktop!?

I'm sure it will come to OSX eventually but I'm surprised by the apparent high demand for it.

Like you I don't see the point of having Siri on a destop OS. "Siri... open Digital Performer", "Siri... record on track 7 and compare with the previous take", "Siri... apply a 6% gaussian blur"... There's no need for it imo, as funny as her answers would be. ;) I don't need to interact with my desktop Mac the same way I can interact with my iPhone...
 
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I can see this being an advantage, in the way that Cortana is useful in Windows 10. If you type in name, for example, it can link you to a LinkedIn profile, your contact info, email exchanges with that person, etc.

I don't use any voice-activation for Cortana (not sure if that's even available), but do find it useful, and see how it could be worthwhile in El Cap.
 
I think Siri and Control Center and TouchID should make it into Macs. I don't like typing out passwords to login, and Siri would make it lovely to open apps, and simplify tasks. I have a MacBook Pro so they should add this.
 
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Cortana does more out of the box with version 1 software than Siri has ever done in the last 3 years. Apple should be embarrassed. Between this and Google Photos, I'm not sure what the heck Apple does besides code for iOS and OS X. It's pretty clear they don't do much else.
 
I fully agree that Apple should integrate Siri into OS X. Regardless of its usefulness on Macs that some users are quick to say, it would keep OS X more competitive with Windows feature-wise.
 
I think Siri and Control Center and TouchID should make it into Macs. I don't like typing out passwords to login, and Siri would make it lovely to open apps, and simplify tasks. I have a MacBook Pro so they should add this.

You can already open apps (and do almost everything you do with a mouse) by using Dictation (you need to enable the Advanced commands for Dictation though). If you want to know about more things you can do with Dictation, you can read my post here.

Ultimately, Siri would only be good if it allowed better and faster interaction compared to the GUI (e.g. allowing to do actions with your files based in your criteria like "Select all presentations in my computer from August 2015 that contain the word income with at least one image and copy them to a new folder named accountability"). If Siri did that, then I'd totally use voice commands because they would be far more efficient than using the GUI.

By the way, you can look into this Apple patent for Siri in OS X which seems more powerful than the current implementation of Cortana (which is basically the same implementation as on the phone).
 
I would like SIRI, plus a FingerPrint reader as well. ;)

Fingerprint reader would be highly useful and fairly easy to implement. Even trackpad patterns would be better than entering a password numerous times a day.
 
If anything, they should allow the option to add Siri. It's like google maps in OS X....I don't see the point in having it on a desktop/laptop when using a browser is just as efficient. I've never used that app nor will I ever use it. It's just a waste of space/resources, and that's what I think Siri would be if integrated into the OS. Those who want it can install it.
 
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