Microsoft CEO: Cortana Isn’t Competing With Alexa, Google

[Guest]

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told journalists that the company will bring Cortana to Amazon and Google's smart speaker platforms rather than competing with them.

Microsoft CEO: Cortana Isn’t Competing With Alexa, Google : Read more

 

[s1mon7]

While it's a good approach, I think users would much prefer Cortana to be optional. Just ask during installation, if unticked, don't install it. I can see how all companies would rather have them there for the chance of someone starting to use them just because they're there, but it's a hurdle for the power users if we can't even completely get rid of voice assistants. No OEM gives us choice.

 

[philipemaciel]

"Microsoft CEO: Cortana Isn’t Competing With Alexa, Google"

Good. Now let me completely uninstall this useless, privacy-menacing, bloatware.

 

[ubercake]

While it's a good approach, I think users would much prefer Cortana to be optional. Just ask during installation, if unticked, don't install it. I can see how all companies would rather have them there for the chance of someone starting to use them just because they're there, but it's a hurdle for the power users if we can't even completely get rid of voice assistants. No OEM gives us choice.

Right on the button. The fact that it's shoved down your throat from the first time you log in to Windows 10 makes it a less than desirable assistant ("a little blah blah here, a little wifi there..." How do I choke this assistant already???). Also, the fact there are "off" switches throughout different menus and not in one place for the various parts of Cortana, make you dislike the assistant and view it with distrust that much more.

They definitely took the wrong approach with Cortana. They should have worked it the other way, made the Cortana functionality more granular and let people turn on useful features by choice. By "learning" the value of Cortana little by little, Windows 10 users would have been more likely to accept the lack of privacy that is bundled with it just like they do with most social media.