RIP Cortana Microsoft will soon end support for the Windows Cortana app. Will live on in certain parts of Office for now.

[Uttamattamakin]

Summary

Microsoft will remove Cortana their AI voice assistant from Window in favor of their new AI copilot.  These all text based features and automation are the next generation.  

 

 

Quotes

 

PC world. 

 

Quote

The writing on the wall outlining Cortana’s demise was etched years ago, when Microsoft began phasing out Cortana’s presence: removing it from the Windows shell and separating it into an app, then gutting it to the point (initially) where it couldn’t do basic math. In 2020, Andrew Shuman, Microsoft’s corporate vice president in charge of Cortana, told PCWorld that Cortana’s development was pinched between the pandemic and the lack of available on-site resources. It was then that Microsoft made the pivot from using Cortana as a personal AI app to making it simply representative of Microsoft’s productivity push.

 

The Verge

Quote

It’s not clear when exactly Microsoft will remove Cortana from Windows. But it is clear that Microsoft’s growing suite of AI tools, which also includes its Bing chatbot and Microsoft 365 Copilot, is taking first priority. Even though Cortana is going away in Windows, Microsoft says it will still be available in Outlook mobile, Microsoft Teams mobile, Teams display, and Teams rooms, but who knows for how long.

 

My thoughts

Because why give a solution with a voice when we can have text instead?   This to me makes as much sense as sending a text or voice call for a long call when video is available and viable now.    IT would be SO easy to just give Bing chat a voice that they already own the rights to and PRESTO a Cortana that is almost as smart as the one in Halo.  This is like reverting to morse code. 

 

That said.  I get people found how PUSHY they were with Cortana in the past turned people off.  IF MS used the Cortana voice to read the text and respond send queries to Bing chat it would finally make Cortana useful.  It would do what Chat GPT-4 did for Bing.  Instead 

 

 

 

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/2/23747162/microsoft-windows-ai-cortana-end-support

https://www.pcworld.com/article/1940445/rip-cortana-microsoft-says-its-windows-ai-app-is-doomed.html

 

[emosun]

oh no ...... not the feature nobody asked for! how will we live

[SorryBella]

6 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Microsoft will remove Cortana their AI voice assistant from Window in favor of their new AI copilot.

There goes Kronie's sole in-joke.

 

 

[da na]

I'm glad Cortana is gone, but come on, why an AI replacement? Who will actually use this?

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

IT would be SO easy to just give Bing chat a voice that they already own the rights to

also they probably don't actually have the rights to use the voice anywhere else but the current implementation. they probably only had the rights for a specific use case and weren't allowed to use it in other products without renewing it.

[TempestCatto]

I've literally never used Cortana - nor will I ever use an "Ai replacement" I genuinely don't get the need for them.

[da na]

1 minute ago, TempestCatto said:

I've literally never used Cortana - nor will I ever use an "Ai replacement" I genuinely don't get the need for them.

True this. I've also never used the AI Bing search bar Edge keeps putting on my desktop. Few "Techie" people I know are hyped about AI, but Microsoft sure acts like the whole world is clamoring for more ways to communicate with our silicon overlords.

[Uttamattamakin]

21 minutes ago, emosun said:

oh no ...... not the feature nobody asked for! how will we live

That would've described Bing until GPT was added to it. 

 

6 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

I've literally never used Cortana - nor will I ever use an "Ai replacement" I genuinely don't get the need for them.

I had (have?) Cortana connected to Amazon Alexa and also to my (pre google) nest thermostat.  In it's day I could ask Cortana to get Alexa to do an alexa thing for me or adjust the thermostat in my house.    It it's day Cortana was awesome IF you gave it a chance.  

The problem with Cortana was people viewed AI voice assistants as a thing one had on their phone OR Alexa.  Cortana as the AI of a POWERFUL personal computer would've been best positioned as being the AI that bosses around other AI's.  

 

3 minutes ago, da na said:

True this. I've also never used the AI Bing search bar Edge keeps putting on my desktop. Few "Techie" people I know are hyped about AI, but Microsoft sure acts like the whole world is clamoring for more ways to communicate with our silicon overlords.

Bings GPT-4 is not just a search.  You can ask it complex questions and it will search the internet and also based on GPT-4 formulate a solution.  It hallucinates far less than Chat GPT which is based on GPT-3 and also not able to search the web. 

[da na]

10 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Bings GPT-4 is not just a search.  You can ask it complex questions and it will search the internet and also based on GPT-4 formulate a solution.  It hallucinates far less than Chat GPT which is based on GPT-3 and also not able to search the web. 

I honestly don't understand what is so awesome about a program that glues text from webpages together

Edit: Yes, I know GPT-4 does more than that, but I can't imagine that most people would frequently search something so complex that the Windows Start web search could not answer

[Quackers101]

4 hours ago, SorryClaire said:

There goes Kronie's sole in-joke.

nice that she goes in on the privacy violations windows and other big platforms can do.
"forced update, forces or re-enable data collection without user knowledge".

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

Poor Cortana.

 

Microsoft had a killer name for an AI avatar, and had to waste it just years before they had the tech to make a digital assistent that IS vaguely useful.

The first thing I do is turn off cortana when I install windows. It's like they learnt nothing from Clippy.

On another topic it's unbelievable how bad windows search is. I download and install a program, I write the exact name of the program in the search bar, and in order I find:

1. The webppage where to download the program I just installed
2. The installer file for the program I just found
3.  ... Tumbleweeds woosh ...

Yes, I had to search it manually in the program folder.

  

4 hours ago, da na said:

I honestly don't understand what is so awesome about a program that glues text from webpages together

There are few specific uses that shaves hours of work with a single query. For me it's most useful as:

• Writing a recap of a web page
• Researching ways in which something can be done
• Writing a small well defined function
• Adding comment to code

[williamcll]

Just like in Halo

[Doobeedoo]

Incredible. Can they make properties tab have dark theme now.

[Uttamattamakin]

10 hours ago, da na said:

I honestly don't understand what is so awesome about a program that glues text from webpages together

Edit: Yes, I know GPT-4 does more than that, but I can't imagine that most people would frequently search something so complex that the Windows Start web search could not answer

I have used Bing chat to solve physics problems from those for a textbook solutions manual to asking it to explain the solution to a set of equations that, as far as anyone can tell, only I have solved analytically.  Yes it does only recognize patterns but that is really a big important part of intelligence.  

I think people are judging GPT-4 which is only available via bing, and only if you use the "more creative" setting by Chat GPT.  That's like judging Windows 11 by what Windows 3.1 could do. 

[Poinkachu]

Who knows, maybe it will reincarnate as Croutona or somethin'.

[jagdtigger]

Yay!  Finally dont have to dig up what sort of random character sequence is used to hide it from get-appxpackage *cortana*......
(I dont use windows but most of my family sadly does. Guess who have to put out the fire every time microshaft f up something?)

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

On 6/3/2023 at 5:20 PM, jagdtigger said:

Yay!  Finally dont have to dig up what sort of random character sequence is used to hide it from get-appxpackage *cortana*......

What a fall from grace. In universe Cortana was able to go toe to toe against Mendicant Bias, rewrite the firmware of a covenant destroyer, vastly improving its capability and generally schooling the Covenant how their technology was meant to be used.

Now Cortana must hide under a sequence of random characters.

  

12 hours ago, doubleflower said:

On a more serious note however I feel like voice assistant on desktop almost feel more or less a gimmick compared to mobile/IoT devices, but even that one is a stretch at best

Because it is. On Desktop you have a real keyboard and a real mouse, you don't have to use clumsy touch controls. Keyboard is faster and more precise than voice, also having a bounch of people in an office talking to their computer would make it a call center. 

 

[doubleflower]

On 6/3/2023 at 10:30 AM, Uttamattamakin said:

Summary

Microsoft will remove Cortana their AI voice assistant from Window in favor of their new AI copilot.  These all text based features and automation are the next generation.  

 

 

Quotes

 

PC world. 

 

 

The Verge

 

My thoughts

Because why give a solution with a voice when we can have text instead?   This to me makes as much sense as sending a text or voice call for a long call when video is available and viable now.    IT would be SO easy to just give Bing chat a voice that they already own the rights to and PRESTO a Cortana that is almost as smart as the one in Halo.  This is like reverting to morse code. 

 

That said.  I get people found how PUSHY they were with Cortana in the past turned people off.  IF MS used the Cortana voice to read the text and respond send queries to Bing chat it would finally make Cortana useful.  It would do what Chat GPT-4 did for Bing.  Instead 

 

 

 

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/2/23747162/microsoft-windows-ai-cortana-end-support

https://www.pcworld.com/article/1940445/rip-cortana-microsoft-says-its-windows-ai-app-is-doomed.html

 

 

On a more serious note however I feel like voice assistant on desktop almost feel more or less a gimmick compared to mobile/IoT devices, but even that one is a stretch at best

[jagdtigger]

11 hours ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

Now Cortana must hide under a sequence of random characters.

Open task manager and see it for yourself, also every service has 2 entries in the registry presumably to hinder automated tools disabling them......

[WolframaticAlpha]

Not the first time they did this lol.

[Stahlmann]

A bad 1st gen product getting replaced by a much better 2nd gen product? Come on, the foreshadowing was very obvious. First Chat GPT, then GPT powered bing search, then the integration into Windows. Who didn't see this one coming?

[Uttamattamakin]

6 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

A bad 1st gen product getting replaced by a much better 2nd gen product? Come on, the foreshadowing was very obvious. First Chat GPT, then GPT powered bing search, then the integration into Windows. Who didn't see this one coming?

"bad first gen product".... was a voice with personality.  The interface for it was fine.  The problem was the information it could provide wasn't anything special.  

One does not need a Cortana when they have OK Google, Alexa, or Siri already.  Cortana was a bit too fashionably late to the party.   Now a Cortana with bing GPT's brains would make a lot of sense.   In fact until GTPT was given to Bing it was arguably less popular than Cortana. 

[Brooksie359]

On 6/2/2023 at 9:48 PM, TempestCatto said:

I've literally never used Cortana - nor will I ever use an "Ai replacement" I genuinely don't get the need for them.

I mean AI has gotten crazy good really fast so to say you won't ever use an AI assistant that replaces cortana is a bit surprising to me. I mean yes cortana wasn't very useful but with how fast AI is improving I wouldn't be surprised if the replacement AI gets really good to the point where alot of people will end up using it. The problem with cortana currently is that it doesn't do enough to justify its use. With AI I can actually see it being useful and to just blanket say you won't even try it is an old person mentality. I mean not all old people are like that but alot of old people are reluctant to try new things. I mean imagine if the AI could automatically do tasks that you use to have to do manually and had to remember to do. If it could also remind you to do things that you should do but you never asked it to remind you. If the AI actually gets as good as a real personal assistant I don't see why others wouldn't try it at that point. 

[TempestCatto]

2 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I mean AI has gotten crazy good really fast so to say you won't ever use an AI assistant that replaces cortana is a bit surprising to me. I mean yes cortana wasn't very useful but with how fast AI is improving I wouldn't be surprised if the replacement AI gets really good to the point where alot of people will end up using it. The problem with cortana currently is that it doesn't do enough to justify its use. With AI I can actually see it being useful and to just blanket say you won't even try it is an old person mentality. I mean not all old people are like that but alot of old people are reluctant to try new things. I mean imagine if the AI could automatically do tasks that you use to have to do manually and had to remember to do. If it could also remind you to do things that you should do but you never asked it to remind you. If the AI actually gets as good as a real personal assistant I don't see why others wouldn't try it at that point. 

For me, it's not "old person mentality" it's simply that my day to day tasks don't require an assistant. I don't need to write them down and seldom do I need to put an appointment in a calendar. I just kinda cruz through life going day by day, I try not to think too far into the future as it messes with my mental health. The only time I really plan far ahead is when I fly down south to see family. That's when I'll let my boss know one month before hand and book the flight. But even then I don't pack till the night before (but that's mostly laundry related).

 

I don't think most people need an assistant but many use one out of unnecessary convenience. My mom will yell to her Alexa to set a 3 min timer - when she could do that with her phone, or even just the dang timer function on the stove itself which takes two button presses. Like I said, I've never used Cortana and I don't see myself needing to use anything similar Ai or not, anytime soon. Infact I disabled Cortana right after I installed Windows. The assistant thing isn't for everyone.

[Brooksie359]

2 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

For me, it's not "old person mentality" it's simply that my day to day tasks don't require an assistant. I don't need to write them down and seldom do I need to put an appointment in a calendar. I just kinda cruz through life going day by day, I try not to think too far into the future as it messes with my mental health. The only time I really plan far ahead is when I fly down south to see family. That's when I'll let my boss know one month before hand and book the flight. But even then I don't pack till the night before (but that's mostly laundry related).

 

I don't think most people need an assistant but many use one out of unnecessary convenience. My mom will yell to her Alexa to set a 3 min timer - when she could do that with her phone, or even just the dang timer function on the stove itself which takes two button presses. Like I said, I've never used Cortana and I don't see myself needing to use anything similar Ai or not, anytime soon. Infact I disabled Cortana right after I installed Windows. The assistant thing isn't for everyone.

I guess I just disagree with the mentality that you won't use something that you don't even know what it is capable of yet. I wouldn't be surprised if the things it can help us with are things that you didn't even think possible.