Cortana isn’t exactly going away, but…

Topic

New Reply

Good overview of Cortana’s long-anticipated demise by Tom Warren, over at The Verge. Microsoft is now refocusing Cortana and stripping back its direct
[See the full post at: Cortana isn’t exactly going away, but…]

Reply | Quote

Replies

This may be one of those things that seems like a step in the right direction, yet the associated benefit never quite materializes.  Cortana was one of those things on the “get rid of” section of my Windows 10 wishlist, along with UWP and the mobile/touch orientation.  Back when I still held hope that Windows 10 would be made into the kind of Windows I would want (something along the lines of Win2k/XP/7), the presence of these three things was a big problem, as each of them indicated a development thrust that resulted in compromises I was not prepared to make (though two of them are arguably slightly different aspects of the same thing).

First the Windows Mobile ambitions died, as MS threw in the towel on the idea that Windows 8 or 10 was going to help them catch up with Apple and Google in the app gap by providing a ready-made market for apps even without significant Windows Phone market share, and without a competitive app market, few people would opt for a Windows phone, no matter how well-designed the UI and OS may be.

I foolishly thought that when MS realized that it wasn’t going to happen with Windows Phone, they’d at least act to preserve their desktop market and nix the “zebra” UI, on the “bird in hand is worth two in the bush” principle, but that never happened.  The zebra is alive and well, even though its raison d’être is long gone.

Then we heard that UWP was all but dead, and again, hope springs eternal that this would mean that the UWP Windows utility “apps” would follow, along with the touch-oriented “Settings” instead of the mouse-oriented Control Panel, but the slow march of options out of the Control Panel and into Settings continued.  There sure is a lot of UWP around for something that’s supposed to be dead!

Now Cortana is headed in the same direction as UWP and Windows Mobile before it, but the design decisions Microsoft made to favor Cortana will probably remain anyway.  The article says it will become an app, but it already was– one of the non-removable (by normal means) kind, but still packaged as a UWP app.  I remember it being one of the ones I removed forcibly back when I was still trying Windows 10, years ago. So what will this change be if it’s being changed from an app into an app?

Will the choices MS removed from the search options be restored now that Cortana is supposedly being taken out of the equation?  I doubt it.  They still want to drive traffic to Bing, after all.

Microsoft may be deprecating these failed ideas one by one, but the compromises made in their respective names remain in Windows 10 anyway.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

David F

Reply | Quote

Here is a link to a new to me website with a lot, a really lot, of information about Cortana. It has recently been updated to include info on Windows 10 version 1903. This may be a good website to bookmark (?) as it appears to cover Win 10 versions 1507 through v 1903, with instructions on how to use Group Policy, the Registry, Services, and Task Manager to disable and even remove Cortana, with ‘Warnings’ that removing is probably not a good idea.

How to Disable Cortana in Windows 10 ver 1903 – [Updated]

https://www.windowstechit.com/16020/turn-off-cortana-windows-10/

Amazing Truths Revealed: Link to Simply Magnificent AskWoody Knowledge Bases

Reply | Quote

For those of us who have simpler minds, O&O ShutUp 10 can do many of these same tweaks, without all the risk of DIY and Registry Hacking.

-- rc primak

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the reminder rc primak, KISS – Keep It Simple Silly. I like simple:

Amazing Truths Revealed: Link to Simply Magnificent AskWoody Knowledge Bases

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

From the “Verge” article: “It’s hard to say exactly where Cortana will be in a year or two, but it’s clear from Microsoft’s changes that the company wants its digital assistant to fade more into the background. It will still show up in products where a voice assistant is required, but you’ll be speaking to Alexa or Google Assistant and not Cortana on your next fridge or toaster.”

If I surprise myself, one of these days, talking to the toaster or the fridge, I am going to be really worried.

From Clippy and that funny Monkey King to Cortana: a truly remarkable trajectory.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

Reply | Quote

re. the refrigerator — Are you sure that’s Cortana talking?

https://i0.wp.com/jessicalanan.com/testing123/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/4463497653_7550fc7484.jpg?resize=500%2C400

-- rc primak

Reply | Quote