'Cortana,' Microsoft's Siri competitor, to go public in April - report

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 89
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    titan10 wrote: »

    Hey thanks. The basic idea is that Cortana doesn't sound like a name for a female person in any language that might be familiar to us. A product of some kind maybe, but not a person.

    I think Microsoft people are just too embedded in geek culture. Astounding tone deafness. I still can't get over "Zune."
  • Reply 62 of 89
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    How long before some malware allows hacking and she says things she shouldn't? This is Microcrap we are discussing here remember!
  • Reply 63 of 89
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Steve Ballmer's final act of defiance?

    She will have life-like sweat running down her face too, as a homage to SB.
  • Reply 64 of 89

    I prefer Gortex myself.

  • Reply 65 of 89
    In order to get an answer from Cortana, do you have to feed a pocketful of quarters into the device? Just asking.
  • Reply 66 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ascii View Post

     

    I really liked Cortana's voice and personality in the Halo games. I don't find Siri very likeable. But it comes down to the comprehension and info retrieval capabilities more than the personality I guess.


     

    I really hated the fact that they overly sexualised her. She was supposed to be a computer assistant but more and more she was a bit of titillation which I found distasteful. Frankly I don't really want any 'personal assistant personality'. If I ask my phone to find something it should just show me the results, instead of pretending to be a person.

     

     

    On the topic of Microsoft, I feel that they are unlikely to prevail here. Google has the advantage of having an extremely in depth understanding of data available online. Apple has the advantage of mindshare and simplicity. Microsoft would essentially have to outdo both to be able to make significant inroads and I highly doubt that will occur.

  • Reply 67 of 89
    flaneur wrote: »
    Hey thanks. The basic idea is that Cortana doesn't sound like a name for a female person in any language that might be familiar to us. A product of some kind maybe, but not a person.

    I think Microsoft people are just too embedded in geek culture. Astounding tone deafness. I still can't get over "Zune."

    Wanted to thumbs up you, but 'I'm over my limit for rating content. Please try again later.'
  • Reply 68 of 89
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post





    Well then SteamOS can have a voice assistant based on the creepy AI from Portal, GLaDOS.



    Sony will fall back on its back catalog of movies and find 2001: A Space Odyssey in its MGM collection.

    I would love to have "Hal" as my Siri voice.  

  • Reply 69 of 89
    addicted44 wrote: »
    I am looking forward to this. IMO, Apple has really dropped the ball with Siri. The performance is poor (Apple's online efforts have been consistently subpar, IMO).

    Despite all evidence to the contrary.
  • Reply 70 of 89
    ewtheckman wrote: »
    It makes a certain amount of sense to use the name and image of Cortana. They already own the rights. It's a fairly unique name, avoiding most issues with real people's names. And the character from Halo already has a lot of positive emotion associated with it.

    But they also only have one shot to get this right. If they pull a Zune, Vista, or Windows 8 with this one they will destroy a lot more than the ability to use the name without triggering negative emotions, I suspect they'll also damage the Halo franchise, and possibly everything associated with it, like Xbox—the one real bright spot at Microsoft right now.

    This all makes me wonder if anyone is taking advantage of IBM's developments in Watson.

    Microsoft has some decent products in different categories but has failed to capitalize on cross-branding with their market leading or thought leading products. I don't see anything wrong with cross branding their A.I. with an already well-known product.
  • Reply 71 of 89
    [SIZE=12px]The last place I worked was a full Microsoft shop.  Two or three years ago they installed Microsoft's communication system linking the phones with Outlook.  One of the "features":  when a phone message was left[/SIZE][SIZE=12px] an email was sent to you with a translation of the message into text.  Even though I would know who the message was from and thus have a fair idea of what the topic would be, it was completely impossible to understand --  it was hilarious and made absolutely no sense at all.  I have no idea how many speech to text tools that MS may have, but if this was their core engine for translating, then Cortana could well be enormously entertaining. [/SIZE]

    Google Voice message transcription doesn't work well either.
  • Reply 72 of 89
    leighr wrote: »
    Ahh, the same old Microsoft formula.....

    1. Try and discredit any new Apple product as "gimmicks", "fads" and "useless" products that no one needs.
    2. Work like crazy copying that new Apple product.
    3. Release substandard copied product, claiming it as an innovative Microsoft product that everyone needs.

    At least Microsoft didn't copy the "same old Microsoft formula," that was original; Google, of course, had to copy even the Microsoft formula.
  • Reply 73 of 89

    Microsoft should come see the electric tension that has been built up in the AI forums, hahaha... Seriously though, there must be something inside the bowels of Microsoft that's keeping it up and running after years of continuous perpetual failure. How is Microsoft still running? Surely, they must be doing something right! Maybe it's the huge cash reserve at their disposal.

  • Reply 74 of 89
    Originally Posted by crysisftw View Post

    Seriously though, there must be something inside the bowels of Microsoft that's keeping it up and running after years of continuous perpetual failure.

     

    Yeah: Ballmer’s up there.

    ~OR~

    Microsoft’s in Ballmer’s bowels.

    ~OR~

    Crap leadership for a crap company; makes sense.

    ~OR~

    Ever heard of the snowball effect? This is the same thing, except Microsoft is a ball of crap and Ballmer is a dung beetle.

     

    Got a million of ‘em.

  • Reply 75 of 89
    emesemes Posts: 239member

    Just a little disambiguation here: the product is codenamed ZCortana, and while there is a petition going around for MS to keep the name, it has not been confirmed. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the finished product will even have anything to do with Cortana, aside from being a voice command program. For all of you claiming it's a terrible name, remember it's just a placeholder, Cortana is very popular which will add to hype, and it's actually a very apt name for a voice command program, seeing as Cortana herself provides that function.

    More likely, "Cortana" will simply be an augmented feature of Bing, capable of pulling up more personalized results andlong with various other commands, and will extend (according to MSFTnerd) to the Bing app for iOS.

  • Reply 76 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacBook Pro View Post



    At least Microsoft didn't copy the "same old Microsoft formula," that was original; Google, of course, had to copy even the Microsoft formula.

     

    Actually, I feel that it is Apple trying to use Microsoft's formula. In the 90s and early 00s Microsoft's mode of operation was to attempt to Embrace, Extend and Extinguish. Apple has taken a slightly different approach but has for the most part Embraced new standards and new technologies. Extended them so they are only interoperable with Apple equipment and intend to Extinguish the competition using their market position and IP.

     

     

    Google is taking the approach of IBM or Xerox etc. Doing as much research as they can afford and trying to develop new product categories in 'moonshots'.

     

     

    Apple's strategy has been the most successful so far, but they need to maintain a marketshare well above 50% in the phone market to be able to have the influence to carry out their plans easily. That is currently faltering a little.

  • Reply 77 of 89
    Actually, I feel that it is Apple trying to use Microsoft's formula. In the 90s and early 00s Microsoft's mode of operation was to attempt to Embrace, Extend and Extinguish. Apple has taken a slightly different approach but has for the most part Embraced new standards and new technologies. Extended them so they are only interoperable with Apple equipment and intend to Extinguish the competition using their market position and IP.

    Which "new standards" has Apple extended "so they are only interoperable with Apple equipment?"

    A "new technology" is typically owned by a few patent holders; few new technologies are interoperable with competitor products and services.

    Google is taking the approach of IBM or Xerox etc. Doing as much research as they can afford and trying to develop new product categories in 'moonshots'.
    .


    Google talks about new technologies quite often but hasn't produced any paradigm-changing consumer products of which I am aware except advertising. Never mind, advertising isn't a consumer product or service. In fact, the vast number of canceled consumer products and services from Google is frightening; if Google can't monetize a market they leave the market - that isn't innovation.

    Apple's strategy has been the most successful so far


    Apple is very successful.

    but they need to maintain a marketshare well above 50% in the phone market to be able to have the influence to carry out their plans easily.


    Despite all evidence to the contrary. Apple has never been the most dominant company by market share in computers or smartphones, yet see your own statement above.

    That is currently faltering a little.


    Market share isn't the only or even the most important business metric.
  • Reply 78 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacBook Pro View Post



    Which "new standards" has Apple extended "so they are only interoperable with Apple equipment?"

    Hmm? It's arguable everything from AirDrop to AirPlay to Facetime to Lightning. Facetime was explicitly supposed to be a standard but still exists as an Apple only feature. Apple has been one of the leaders at embracing new technology and that's part of the reason I joined these forums. Their engineering really is second to none.

     

    Quote:


     Market share isn't the only or even the most important business metric.


    It depends what you're trying to measure really. In this case my contention is that Apple needs to keep a high market share in order that for example, Miracast does not overtake Airplay. If the USB 3 Type C connector is superior to Lightning then they have a fight on their hands. If NFC is adopted any more widely they'll fall behind, for example. This is Apple's gamble, which is similar to Microsoft's gamble. I think Apple has a much higher chance of pulling it off and cementing their market share. They still have the app lead too but the gap is narrowing there.

  • Reply 79 of 89
    Originally Posted by Emes View Post

    Just a little disambiguation here: the product is codenamed ZCortana, and while there is a petition going around for MS to keep the name, it has not been confirmed.

     

    But come on, we know it’s going to be released as such, and not just as a voice assistant but a popup head that shows up anywhere within the entire OS at any time.

     

    “Chief, it looks like you’re having trouble finding the porn you want. Would you like some help with that?”

  • Reply 80 of 89
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    "Our UI will be deeply personalized, based on the advanced, almost magical, intelligence in our cloud that learns more and more over time about people and the world," he wrote ...

     

    Fine.  But what Microsoft really needs is a CEO that "learns more and more over time about people and the world."

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