Microsoft uses Apple's Siri to prop up Windows' new 'Cortana' virtual assistant

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 86
    gumbigumbi Posts: 148member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wigby View Post

     

    I just tried exactly what the guy in the commercial asked Siri and Siri responded with my reminder. I can't be sure if it works until my wife calls me but Siri did not reject or misunderstand my command like in the commercial.




    I don't know what you tried - but, I can assure you Siri - in it's current state cannot replicate the two main functionalities shown in that video.  Believe me, my friend tried to prove me wrong with his iPhone...  Contact or People based reminders will trigger anytime you communicate with that person from your phone.

     

    The other feature is an improvement on location based reminders - yes, Siri does do those - but, not like Cortana.  For instance, if you were to tell Cortana to remind you to pick up milk next time you were near a Walmart, she will let you not only pick a particular store - but, you can also just say any and then it will pop up no matter what Walmart you are near. 

     

    I have been using Cortana for several months now - and she rocks.  She is mostly on par with Google Now  - and both are better than Siri.

  • Reply 22 of 86
    froodfrood Posts: 771member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     

    The fact that Samsung and Microsoft feel they have to attack Apple shows how dominant and powerful Apple really is. Way back in dinosaur days I was in sales (big tickets items involving dealing with large committees). My boss sent me to a number of professional sales seminars and Dale Carnegie courses. In every case it was made perfectly clear that the minute you mention your competitor you have lost. To mention your competitor gives them legitimacy, makes the customer think twice, indicates you are worried about them, and puts doubt in the mind of the customer who wonders why you are mentioning the competition at all. The customer doesn’t want to hear how bad the competition is from you. They want to hear how good your product is and how it will help them and solve their problems.  


     

    It is fairly common to compare yourself to a market leader and you will find it in pretty much every industry out there, where companies want to highlight their competitive advantages.

     

    Lexus vs BMW, Mercedes to highlight its higher power and lower cost

    Brand x towel vs Bounty

    Mac vs PC to highlight the Mac doesn't crash every 5 minutes =)

     

    To be the standard being compared to is usually a good thing.  Siri has a lot of recognition, but personally I think there's a good reason MS pitted themselves against Siri instead of Now.

  • Reply 23 of 86
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    gumbi wrote: »

    I don't know what you tried - but, I can assure you Siri - in it's current state cannot replicate the two main functionalities shown in that video.  Believe me, my friend tried to prove me wrong with his iPhone...  Contact or People based reminders will trigger anytime you communicate with that person from your phone.

    The other feature is an improvement on location based reminders - yes, Siri does do those - but, not like Cortana.  For instance, if you were to tell Cortana to remind you to pick up milk next time you were near a Walmart, she will let you not only pick a particular store - but, you can also just say any and then it will pop up no matter what Walmart you are near. 

    I have been using Cortana for several months now - and she rocks.  She is mostly on par with Google Now  - and both are better than Siri.

    All short term... Siri works perfectly fine for the majority of things you really need it to do, with many great things to come. And so you are 1 of the 2 people in your city with a windows phone. Congratulations.
  • Reply 24 of 86
    larryalarrya Posts: 608member
    I like how MS is making this big Cortana push, what, like three years after Siri debuted. It may be slightly better, but I've moved on.
  • Reply 25 of 86
    berpberp Posts: 136member
    gumbi wrote: »

    I don't know what you tried - but, I can assure you Siri - in it's current state cannot replicate the two main functionalities shown in that video.  Believe me, my friend tried to prove me wrong with his iPhone...  Contact or People based reminders will trigger anytime you communicate with that person from your phone.

    The other feature is an improvement on location based reminders - yes, Siri does do those - but, not like Cortana.  For instance, if you were to tell Cortana to remind you to pick up milk next time you were near a Walmart, she will let you not only pick a particular store - but, you can also just say any and then it will pop up no matter what Walmart you are near. 

    I have been using Cortana for several months now - and she rocks.  She is mostly on par with Google Now  - and both are better than Siri.

    Believe me, Windows and Android users need all the help they can get.

    Half-baked AI is no match for good old frontal cortex resourcefulness. In the case of Siri, the baked half happens to be knowing she is no match for me. In the case of Google Now, and Cartana...whatever that is, says the consumer..., the baked half thinks of itself as being a whole. Lucky you.

    As a Windows Mobile user, whatever that is says the consumer, you don't see the raw deal in being underserved whole. Lucky you.
  • Reply 26 of 86
    dickprinterdickprinter Posts: 1,060member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    “Wait! I’ll... I’ll sell you my body! Granted, it’s still just a virtual body, but...”


    She has a great set of memmary modules. ;)

  • Reply 27 of 86
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member

    Or, you know... maybe you should just remember your freaking Anniversary like a real man. Who needs to be reminded? Polygamists?

  • Reply 28 of 86
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,760member

    Looks like Microsoft is following Samsung's lame advertising strategy. Remember when companies with 100,000 employees actually came up with an idea of their own occasionally? Oh how the once mighty Microsoft has fallen.

     

    C:\> FORMAT Microsoft /v:clueless

  • Reply 29 of 86
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dickprinter View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    “Wait! I’ll... I’ll sell you my body! Granted, it’s still just a virtual body, but...”


    She has a great set of memmary modules. ;)


    …and if you squint a little, I think you can see her Home Button.

  • Reply 30 of 86
    gumbigumbi Posts: 148member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by FreeRange View Post





    All short term... Siri works perfectly fine for the majority of things you really need it to do, with many great things to come. And so you are 1 of the 2 people in your city with a windows phone. Congratulations.

     

    I have no pretensions that Windows Phone has a great presence in the US - and it might never for all I know.  But, Siri is going to really need to step up her game if she is to maintain pace with either Google Now or Cortana.  Cortana is updated with new features and improvements every two weeks.  MS doesn't have to wait for the next big OS release to add features to her, and AFIK neither does Google with Google Now. 

  • Reply 31 of 86
    Why does everyone keeps comparing themselves to the NUMBER TWO smartphone maker? I mean Samsung, Microsoft... don't they know that you're supposed to position your product against the market leader?
  • Reply 32 of 86
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

    Why does everyone keeps comparing themselves to the NUMBER TWO smartphone maker? I mean Samsung, Microsoft... don't they know that you're supposed to position your product against the market leader?



    Wait, what?

  • Reply 33 of 86

    Wait, what?

    The analysts constantly tell us Samsung is winnnnnnnnning. But from their anti-iPhone ads, you'd think Samsung has a Microsoft-sized inferiority complex.
  • Reply 34 of 86
    FedGoatFedGoat Posts: 54member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gumbi View Post

     



    I don't know what you tried - but, I can assure you Siri - in it's current state cannot replicate the two main functionalities shown in that video.  Believe me, my friend tried to prove me wrong with his iPhone...  Contact or People based reminders will trigger anytime you communicate with that person from your phone.

     

    The other feature is an improvement on location based reminders - yes, Siri does do those - but, not like Cortana.  For instance, if you were to tell Cortana to remind you to pick up milk next time you were near a Walmart, she will let you not only pick a particular store - but, you can also just say any and then it will pop up no matter what Walmart you are near. 

     

    I have been using Cortana for several months now - and she rocks.  She is mostly on par with Google Now  - and both are better than Siri.




    Gumbi, you are 100% correct. I have a $49 Nokia 520 as a 2nd device to my iPhone 5s and have 8.1 installed. 

    Cortana is Way better than Siri.  Apple has been very Lazy with Siri.  Google now and Cortana do 2x as much as Siri now. 

     

    People that use an iPhone don't understand People and TRUE location based reminders because the iPhone doesn't do it. 

    Siri can set a location based reminder based off adding your job and home address to your contact and then you can say: 

    "remind me to call my wife when I leave work"  or  "remind me to call bob when I get home" 

    but that's it. She can't do any "thinking" outside those parameters. 

     

    In the commercial he says: "remind him to buy flowers the next time he's near ANY flower shop." Cortana will do that. Siri won't. 

    You can say "remind me to ask about my brother about his dog the next time he calls" Cortana will do that. Siri won't. 

     

    Siri basically hasn't seen any real functional improvements since it left behind the 2 year beta.

    She might have some new witty remarks here and there, but no real improvements. 

     

    I get it that people make fun of MS trolling apple, but MS gets the win on this one.

    Siri is still the same as it was 3 years ago. 

  • Reply 35 of 86
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by r4d4 View Post

    Siri is still the same as it was 3 years ago. 


     

    Stick to the facts. Don’t hyperbolize.

  • Reply 36 of 86
    FedGoatFedGoat Posts: 54member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Stick to the facts. Don’t hyperbolize.




    Name NEW features / functionality added to siri in the last 2-3 years..... 

  • Reply 37 of 86
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by r4d4 View Post

    Name NEW features / functionality added to siri in the last 2-3 years..... 

     

    Five seconds on any search engine.

  • Reply 38 of 86
    lorin schultzlorin schultz Posts: 2,771member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     

    The fact that Samsung and Microsoft feel they have to attack Apple shows how dominant and powerful Apple really is. Way back in dinosaur days I was in sales (big tickets items involving dealing with large committees). My boss sent me to a number of professional sales seminars and Dale Carnegie courses. In every case it was made perfectly clear that the minute you mention your competitor you have lost. To mention your competitor gives them legitimacy, makes the customer think twice, indicates you are worried about them, and puts doubt in the mind of the customer who wonders why you are mentioning the competition at all. The customer doesn’t want to hear how bad the competition is from you. They want to hear how good your product is and how it will help them and solve their problems.  


     

    Further, you risk insulting the client. If you denigrate the competition, and the client LIKES the competition's product, you've just insulted their taste.

  • Reply 39 of 86
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    I always find these ads ironic.

    comparing a phone that completely ripped off iPhone's design, OS and features.

    It's frustrating that people don't see this.
  • Reply 40 of 86
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by cali View Post

    comparing a phone that completely ripped off iPhone's design, OS and features.

     

    Well, not in this case. Microsoft did the legal thing and licensed the Apple patents they wanted to use. For once in their existence.

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