windows 10 leak shows like cortana

MICROSOT

Microsoft’s vision of having one operating system across mobile phones, tablets, games consoles and desktop PCs is coming into focus.

A leaked version of the upcoming Windows 10 operating system – the OS, due in 2015, that’s meant to bring all Microsoft devices under the one umbrella – shows the desktop and tablet version of Windows will have the same Siri-like “Cortana” personal assistant that’s already on the Windows mobile phone.

Cortana, you may recall from the Xbox, is the female artificial intelligence character who whispers into the Master Chief’s ear in the Halo franchise of games, telling him about his environment.

By this time next year, she’ll be whispering into your ear, too, if you have a Windows 10 computer.

A video of a leaked “developer preview” version of Windows 10 shows a Windows user talking to his PC, making calls, asking for directions and adding calendar events, much like you can do on a phone.

“Call Mikey”, the user says to his Windows 10 PC. Cortana bring up Skype, Microsoft’s internet phone application.

“What’s in my schedule today?” the user asks.

“OK, I can check your calendar . . . Here’s what you have today,” replies Cortana, using the same voice that’s used in the Xbox game.

Being a developer preview and far from the finished product, not everything goes according to plan in the exchange, of course. Indeed, almost nothing does.

When the user tries to put an event in his calendar, Cortana comes back with the message “Something’s not right. Try again in a little bit.” Apparently, though Cortana has now been added to Windows 10, she has yet to be hooked up to the other features, such as Windows Live.

When he asks Cortana for directions to Big Ben, Cortana says she’s “Getting you directions to this is not working.”

Whether Cortana can work for Microsoft, to help undo the damage wrought by Windows 8, remains to be seen. We’ve had very good voice recognition in PCs for more than a decade, and yet precious few people take advantage of it, perhaps because talking to your computer can make you seem demented.

MICROSOFT.