
Farewell, Cortana - ourmandave
https://gizmodo.com/farewell-cortana-1839907363
======
kabdib
The big howler for me was Cortana running as part of Windows Server 2016, by
default.

Look: I'm not really happy running Windows Server to begin with [HN crowd: a
decision that was not mine, by the way], so why do you have to have this
stupid thing downloading and running all kinds of random executables that I
have no idea what they do _in my bloody server farm_? And yup, I have logs off
all those things, and pager traffic as a witness.

Yes, you can turn Cortana off. No, you shouldn't have to. This decision
beggars the imagination.

(I like to think that the PM behind Cortana-makes-sense-in-a-server was the
same nimrod who also shipped the touchscreen support in Server 2012R2 and the
all-caps menu nonsense that plagued Visual Studio and Office for a few years,
until Microsoft got a clue and realized they were honestly, really and truly
pissing off customers. Someone needs to take that person out back of Building
9 and show them the instruments).

~~~
ToFab123
>The big howler for me was Cortana running as part of Windows Server 2016, by
default.

Cortana is _not_ running as part of Windows Server 2016 by default . The
default install option is no GUI and that option does not install Cortana. You
will explicit have to choose that you want to install the "Desktop experience"
in order to get Cortana. If you select to add an optional feature named
"Desktop experience" it is fair enough that Cortana is there since she is (or
now was) a part of Microsoft Desktop experience. Most typical server workloads
run fine without the GUI (and Cortana).

Windows Server 2016 Installation Options: [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/previous-versions/windows/d...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-
versions/windows/desktop/legacy/mt588481\(v=vs.85\))

~~~
fortran77
Yes. As a very happy Windows user, both server and desktop, I'm always
scratching my head about the FUD comments I see here about Windows. Most are
simply untrue, else they're vast distortions. It makes me wonder whose behind
them and why. Is it just ultra-fandom, or is someone trying an orgranized
attempt to manipulate markets through mis-information?

~~~
cesarb
> I'm always scratching my head about the FUD comments I see here about
> Windows. Most are simply untrue, else they're vast distortions.

Were they always untrue, or were they true for some older version of Windows?
Many non-Windows users here have used Windows some time in the past, and their
views on Windows are based on that experience.

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1123581321
I would have been fine using Cortana in Windows 10, but unfortunately, it
slowed down the Windows key search UI just enough to be frustrating and worth
the time to disable in settings. I don’t at all mind its existence but it
really needs to add functionality without introducing new drawbacks,
especially for frequently used areas of the OS.

(MacOS was little better as it didn’t even try to integrate Siri with
Spotlight and kept it in its own, infrequently-used app.)

~~~
MereInterest
Agreed entirely. In Windows 7, I could hit the Winkey, type the first few
letters of a program, then hit enter. The results were instant and consistent,
so I could build muscle memory on it. In Windows 10, the search results take
several seconds to show up, and change depending on what new files there are,
how many starting characters I typed, whether the index is up to date, and the
phase of the moon.

~~~
Lewton
There must be a lot of macs or linux machines in the department responsible
for the search because there's no way any developer is dogfooding that user
hostile mess

~~~
bayindirh
IIRC the conversation I've had with a former Microsoft employee, some features
are developed as mini competitions. Requirements are sent to the group(s) and
first acceptable implementation gets merged.

e.g. for the Ribbon-UI in Office, there was 3-4 implementations until one was
selected as final.

So the Windows search UI is the fastest developed one with acceptable
features.

~~~
marcosdumay
Ouch.

If I wanted to create a process with the goal of generating technical debt, I
wouldn't get something that effective. It's even beaultiful how it leverages
all the competition flaws to get this result.

I imagine the result is reflected on the employees productivity assessment and
the worst performers fired, so it can exploit evolutionary dynamics to create
the highest possible amount of debit.

~~~
bayindirh
Remember, this is the same Microsoft where people are frowned upon for merging
fixes and optimizations to the Windows kernel instead of implementing new-and-
shiny features [0].

[0]: [http://blog.zorinaq.com/i-contribute-to-the-windows-
kernel-w...](http://blog.zorinaq.com/i-contribute-to-the-windows-kernel-we-
are-slower-than-other-oper/)

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TheRealSteel
"Despite dropping the app in these regions, Cortana itself remains “an
integral part” of the company’s business model to incorporate “conversational
computing and productivity” into its products according to the spokesperson,
so Microsoft doesn’t appear to be closing the coffin on it entirely."

Don't make a girl a promise... if you know you can't keep it.

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srg0
Cortana was doomed the moment Microsoft gave up on Windows Phone. It could
never become as integrated with the mobile os as the competing assistants.
Even if Cortana was better, it wasn't always listening. And on a desktop the
assistants are still not sufficiently versatile at home, and not compatible
with the open office environments at work.

Also Cortana was always good at languages it suported, but it couldn't provide
good localized content for most of the world.

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pndy
I won't be crying since it never worked on my WP devices in first place and
setting up device only to talk to the virtual voice assistant in English, in
non-English language country was some weird acrobatics; once finally I managed
to test it out, I had this feeling the voice had kind of mocking tone. The
substitute or basic assistant for Poland was capable of understanding the
language but you'd have to skip all grammar so it could understand you
correctly - notably skipping noun grammatical cases. Perhaps the complexity of
Slavic languages (and other non-English ones) is still a barrier for this
technology.

The presence of voice assistants on desktop operating systems is a completely
different issue - personally, I don't see how these can be useful; they're
more of a gimmick feature aimed at less experienced users.

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pjmlp
In what concerns me, farewell Alexa and Echo as well. I don't see a need for
such intrusive devices.

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RenRav
I've never used it and I'm not sure how it even works.

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jacobwilliamroy
Does an offline voice assistant fit on a watch or a smart phone? Is it
possible to open source one?

~~~
dest
Have a look at [https://snips.ai/](https://snips.ai/)

~~~
VistaBrokeMyPC
That site has the most GDPR compliant, transparent, easy to configure cookie
settings I've ever seen.

I've got my eyes on that dev kit for sure. Having an offline voice assistant
is something I've wanted for a while, privacy is much more important to me
than the hardware support that echo and Google home have. Thanks for dropping
that link!

------
mindcrash
Shabby journalism again by Gizmodo.

Cortana isn't removed, MS only removed it from the core Windows feature set.

When the 19H2 is released Cortana will still be around, but not as part of
Windows but as a separate app.

People who update their Windows to the Fast Ring can even play with the new
Cortana app right now.

Microsoft also have plans to deeply integrate it into its 365 line of
productivity apps, so it isn't going anywhere in that area too.

And given that Siri and Google Assistant both dominate the Assistant area on
the smartphones due to the fact that they are both preinstalled makes
discontinuing the standalone smartphone apps and putting the money and
resources involved to good use elsewhere is actually a good move business
wise.

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gao8a
_" Farewell, Chief"_

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Pxtl
I actually like the Google voice assistant so I tried to get Cortana working
on my surface. I honestly could not figure out how to turn it on.

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basicplus2
“To make your personal digital assistant as helpful as possible, we’re
integrating Cortana into your Microsoft 365 productivity apps,”

Doesn't sound like its farewell at all...

just possibly giving Cortana direct access to everything you type in email,
documents, excel.. the list goes on

~~~
jobigoud
The return of clippy?

~~~
VistaBrokeMyPC
As irritating as clippy was, I actually miss the little guy. Always so
enthusiastic about formatting my essays into letters!

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acd
Please open source Cortana

~~~
apk-d
I imagine open-sourcing something that's _both_ cloud-based and tightly
integrated into the operating system would require a complete rewrite.

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mgkimsal
try saying "hey cortana" to your siri or google devices.

~~~
pmarreck
"Hey Siri"

::double chime::

"Hey Cortana"

Siri: "That's like comparing apples and... Not apples."

~~~
mgkimsal
i think you can ask siri about cortana. i've gotten back something about how
siri understands how hard being an assistant is, and has respect for all
assistants.

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js4ever
I don't know a single person using Cortana, so it's not a surprise I guess. At
least the push to use it in Windows will finally go away... A bit too late I
have migrated to Ubuntu earlier this year... Puting an end to 20 years of
Windows on my computer.

Farewell Microsoft.

~~~
kgwxd
Does anyone use any voice assistant anywhere? Other than people trying it out
for the first time, I've literally never seen it in the wild.

~~~
davnicwil
I use Google assistant to set reminders. It's so much more convenient than
clicking through and typing the same thing on my phone especially or even my
laptop. Literally works in 3 seconds. It's great!

~~~
kd913
I don't think that is worth the privacy lost by having Google parse voice
commands. 15-30 seconds inputting data versus privacy lost by having a profile
generated on me by Google.

A Google VP literally said that you should warn guests if you have voice
assistants in your home.

~~~
RandomBacon
I think it should be federal law that devices like these that are always
listening come with stickers for purchasers to put on the front door warning
guests that they are being recorded. Of course no one is going to use those
stickers, but it will remind everyone of how big of a privacy violation these
things are.

