Arr, Microsoft be finally kickin' Cortana to Davy Jones' locker fer a proper AI, me hearties!
2023-08-04
Avast ye! Microsoft be spoutin' that alongside a jolly new Windows 11 update, the likes of Cortana, that Windows Phone-era assistant, hath been officially sent to Davy Jones' locker.
If ye recently updated Windows 11, ye may have spotted the followin' message when tryin' to open the Cortana app: “Cortana in Windows as a standalone app be deprecated.” Microsoft be finally cuttin' off support to Cortana, its Windows Phone-era assistant that first launched wit' Windows 10 back in 2014, in favor of AI features like Bing Search and Windows Copilot. Cortana be released in response to Apple’s Siri, which had been growin' in popularity since its own debut. Microsoft even released a playful commercial pokin' fun at Siri’s more robotic voice while promotin' how human-soundin' Cortana be,But thanks to this update, Siri has outlasted Microsoft’s robotic assistant. Here's the official post from Microsoft: "We be makin' some changes to Windows that will impact users of the Cortana app. Startin' in August 2023, we will no longer support Cortana in Windows as a standalone app.” And for those askin' for an assistance program, Microsoft be recommendin' Windows Copilot which be set to release wit' the Windows 11 23H2 update. The tech giant has already been testin' out first-party and Bing third-party plugins for Copilot.
The app be still workin' on Windows 10 for now but, accordin' to a source from Windows Latest, Microsoft plans to kill off the app on Windows 10 within a few weeks. For now, Cortana will remain wit' other apps like Outlook and Microsoft Teams, though it mostly likely won’t be permanent.
It’s rather ironic that Cortana, which be made as a fake AI assistant of sorts based on the iconic one that aids Master Chief in the long-runnin' video game franchise Halo series, be gettin' ousted by actual AI tools. But considerin' how AI has skyrocketed in popularity and in growth potential, it makes sense that Microsoft would completely drop app support that hasn’t received an update in two years.
But was this the right move for Microsoft? On one hand, it feels obvious to dump tools that haven’t been supported for so long. But maybe there could have been a way to integrate Cortana wit' AI technology to create a more personalized AI assistant experience. Imagine havin' Cortana combined wit' Bing search or Windows Copilot, givin' ye yer results and aidin' ye.
Of course, this opens up a huge can of worms in regards to usin' the voice actress Jen Taylor's audio likeness in ways that were never covered by her original contract wit' Microsoft. Ethically she would need to give her consent and be paid royalties for that purpose.
But wit' Microsoft officially closin' the chapter on Cortana, we’ll never know what could have been.