
Microsoft will shut down the Cortana iOS and Android apps in 2021 - behnamoh
https://www.engadget.com/cortana-shutdown-harman-kardon-invoke-ios-android-191700426.html
======
nxc18
I was a big Cortana + Windows Phone fan (big enough even that I had one in use
in 2014) and it did start out competitive. Over time though, Siri got better,
Alexa got better; Cortana never did. Microsoft shows an inspirational video at
Build every year, but what they show never seems to become reality.

In contrast, I started investing in Alexa mid/late-2018 and while it was great
to start, it has become increasingly useful. It makes phone calls to
businesses, and gets it right very consistently; it knows business hours; the
automation has become more powerful over time (a category Cortana never even
began to touch); and the integration ecosystem is superb.

Alexa keep improving, too. Yesterday I invoked a routine that included playing
music, while the invoked service was busy playing on another device. While in
the past the music just wouldn't have played, now she says, 'Amazon Music is
already in use on another device. Did you want to play Thunderstorm Sounds on
Bedroom Sonos?' That's just one example, but they are numerous and regular
enough that I was able to pick one from just yesterday.

~~~
theklub
Windows phone was actually legit, I was one of the few who loved it I guess.
Those big tiles etc...

~~~
cbsks
There are dozens of us!

I absolutely loved my Windows phones. I had a couple of different Lumia
phones, including the flagship Lumia 920 which had a pretty decent camera for
the time, but my favorite was the Lumia 520. The Lumia 520 was only $60, and
didn't need a case or screen protector or anything fancy like that. When it
was dropped, the back popped off and the battery flew out which reduced the
impact on the screen. It had offline maps, a web browser, and the battery
easily lasted for 3 days. And if it was lost, it was just $60 to replace! I
went through 3 of them before my bank removed their Windows Phone app, which
meant that I couldn't do mobile check deposit. I "upgraded" to an android
phone, which cost much more and was so much more complicated to use.

~~~
jborichevskiy
Ahhh I do miss my Lumia 920. Solid hardware and a refreshing take on software.

------
tootie
Obviously Cortana was a laggard, but I wonder how much ROI any of these voice
assistants are really delivering for anyone. Besides maybe Alexa. I have not
observed anyone talking to their phones since these were a novelty.

~~~
graeme
> I have not observed anyone talking to their phones since these were a
> novelty.

Note that people are much more likely to talk to their phone in private than
in public. It’s rude/weird to talk to one with people around. I use mine at
home or when away from people.

I use mine for the following:

* turn on/off the lights * play some music * what’s the weather * call people * add X to my grocery list * start a timer * occasionally, open an app. Usually on apple watch where this is faster * Remind me tomorrow to do X * Get me directions home * Show me pictures of X * Start/stop time tracking timers

The common thing is they’re all simple functions, quick to say, and faster by
voice than going 3-4 steps into a UI and typing stuff out.

This is on iPhone. I imagine all of the above use cases work well on android,
and I think others would be effective too, as google assistant is reputed to
be more powerful.

Note that siri used to be garbage at understanding me. After using it a while
it seems much better. Either she learned or I learned to speak differently.

~~~
graeme
I forgot to note that I have the airpods with always on hey siri. That has
increased my usage as I don’t have to touch the phone to start the above.

------
aitchnyu
> Microsoft is tweaking the software to better compliment apps like Outlook
> and Teams.

I wish MS didnt think shiny when thinking about these two apps. Outlook and
Teams (at my workplace) log me out from laptop and mobile without warning and
send me an SMS OTP I have to use within 5 minutes. They don't even have a
resend OTP so I have to restart the apps and hope the SMS arrives on time.
Outlook web is slow as molasses on Firefox and of course years behind Gmail.

~~~
7952
Yeah, that happens to me. I leave my desktop turned on a occasionally get
authenticator prompts at random times when not using the computer. And then
see the login dialogue when I log back in with no idea which app needs to
authenticate.

------
gundmc
Contrary to popular HN opinion, it's not uncommon nor a user-trust catastrophe
for large corporations to turn down products, services, and features over
time.

[https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-
micros...](https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-microsoft-
products)

~~~
duhast
Remember: You can't please HN crowd.

Ideal corporation according to HN commenters:

1) Moderately successful, but not too successful (my Foo can't compete with
Bar)

2) Run by at most 20 people (why do they need so many people, me and my buddy
could do it in a week!)

3) Maintains all products/features indefinitely even if less then 1% of the
users use it (Google killed RSS Reader)

4) Directs all earnings back into the product (they have so much money, surely
they can afford to all maintain all products/features indefinitely)

5) Pays below market rates (engineers make too much money)

6) Grows organically with no VC/investor money

7) Makes no mistakes. All experiments end up being total hits / cash cows
forever.

...

~~~
bzb3
>Maintains all products/features indefinitely even if less then 1% of the
users use it (Google killed RSS Reader)

1% of all Google users is what, a gazillion people?

------
prepend
If only they will shut down the windows app. The darn thing eats up 5-20% of
my cpu and my VM doesn’t even have a mic. I’ve tried deleting, disabling,
cortana’s process comes back and does nothing useful.

~~~
mhh__
Give me windows subsystem on Linux any day (for mainly this reason). I need a
windows machine but it's so jarring going from my Linux laptop running off a
HDD running six months worth of updates and a kernel while I watch a film to
windows needing a restart to update a .NET minor version(!?) when running off
an SSD.

~~~
prepend
I really like WSL, but I can’t turn off cortana from running at the same time.

------
timwis
I can only imagine that both users of the curtana app must be devastated.

------
lights0123
> To be eligible, you'll have to have used your Invoke speaker to ask
> something of Cortana between July 31st and before today's announcement.

I'm assuming that "July 31st" means 2019? Otherwise, that's a few-hours
window.

~~~
zamadatix
Yes [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4566125/cortana-
ser...](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4566125/cortana-service-on-
the-harman-kardon-invoke)

------
croddin
So Microsoft Cortana will have had about a 7 year lifespan, just like the
Cortana in Halo it was named after.

~~~
advanced-DnD
So let's see if it goes Rampant, found an ancient galaxy guardians, and return
to Earth for that "mantle of responsibilities"

------
solarkraft
Impressive speed of obsolescence.

Should manufacturers be forced to support devices for a set amount of time (5
years?) or should the customer start demanding it?

~~~
drummer
Yeah they just abandoned everyone who invested in their Lumia phones. I had
difficulty finding batteries after 2 years for my 950s.

------
Simulacra
I’ve never used Cortana and tried in vain to remove it, what exactly is it
supposed to be used for?

~~~
techntoke
It is supposed to be a virtual assistant like Siri or Google Assistant.

~~~
Consultant32452
The only place I ever found Cortana to be useful was on my XBox One. At some
point it stopped responding though, so I stopped using it. I suspect if I did
some work I could get it working again, but all I ever really used it for was
to pause/resume Netflix.

