Cortana News (Coming from the inside) (OP being updated)

[Victoroos]

dont listen to the whingers and complainers Talderon just keep building cortana bigger and better

Let me guess, you can use Cortana? .
But indeed, talderon.. You are a hero

 

[neo158]

Let me guess, you can use Cortana? .
But indeed, talderon.. You are a hero

Anyone can use Cortana right now, just switch the relevant settings to US. Unless you use an HTC 8X or 8S that has the phone language baked into the firmware!!!

 

[magicdesign]

Okay all. I REALLY think we are starting to go sideways on this purpose of this post topic.

Let's try and get things back in line please.

Thanks!

This is a forum and therefore encourages conversations. If you wanted to just broadcast marketing messages to us, you should have just bought some banner advertising on this site.

 

[wpuser87]

Tease, tease... :excited:

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

Interesting... Looking forward to this

 

[TruPlaya187]

Tease, tease... :excited:

Sorry if I don't know everybody but who is that twitter user. A great source of information?

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

This is Talderon.

 

[narv]

I used to have an iphone... and I never used siri... now I have a WP... I use Cortana everyday if not for just the daily glance.. and the occasional search... no I don't use her chit-chat everyday.. just for fun really... but I do use cortana in some fashion everyday and I love it.

 

[Talderon]

Yes, indeed, that is my twitter account.

Yes, I was reading emails at 4am this morning and my eyes about rolled out of my head. I thought I would warn you guys. I would hate to see eyeballs rolling around all over the place!!

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

P.S. Finally I figured out how to embed tweets properly

 

[Talderon]

>.> Someone is teasing us!! I wish I could throttle this dude!! <.<

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

>.> Someone is teasing us!! I wish I could throttle this dude!! <.<

Yeah, this guy definitely should give us some more info... ><

 

[Talderon]

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

Holy Cortana. Such a tease....

 

[slipslip]

Talderon--
I realize you may not be at liberty to say, but how involved has the executive team (Satya Nadella/Bill Gates level) been in developing and managing Cortana? It seems like something that MS execs with deep technical experience would love to chew on--- and something that, frankly, Steve Ballmer probably never would have been all that interested in. From listening to interviews with Bill Gates over the years, artificial intelligence and natural language interfaces are some of the things that he gets pretty jazzed about, in a way that only someone who deeply loves such gritty technical challenges would.

I was pleased to see Cortana mentioned, in detail, in Satya Nadella's email to all of Microsoft today
Satya Nadella's email to employees: Bold ambition and our core:

Increasingly, all of these experiences will become more connected to each other, more contextual and more personal. For example, today the Cortana app on my Windows Phone merges data from highway sensors and my own calendar and simply reminds me to leave work to make it to my daughter's recital on time. In the future, it will be even more intelligent as a personal assistant who takes notes, books meetings and understands if my question about the weather is to determine my clothes for the day or is intended to start a complex task like booking a family vacation.

The future can't come soon enough.

[On a side note: Someday, I hope I'll be able say "I'll have my Cortana talk to your Cortana to find a meeting time that works for both of us." ]

 

[jleebiker]

Talderon, once again, THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
Please let go of those that are impatient for more info. Clearly they have NO sense of what your environment is like. I can't even begin to imagine what you are going through with the changes to the product that are being scoped. Keep up the GREAT work!

 

[Talderon]

Overall, EVERYONE here at Microsoft, including the executive team, is REALLY jazzed about Cortana. Cortana not only brings so much to the table now, but the true future of Cortana is really limitless.

Here are some things to consider when looking at the way Google and Apple take an approach to their products.

They had to build infrastructure go from the ground up from design to conception with the idea that "this will be a cool marketing gimmick that we can build on if people respond well to it!".

How can I say that? Look how long those two products have been out, on the market, in production, "fully" supported, and to this date, how much innovation those companies have thrown at them.

OH! WAIT! Google is doing a lot of cool new things with Google Now!!! Yes, they are! After Cortana stole all their thunder and made them re-think their strategy behind their limping Google Now product.

Microsoft's approach was different from Concept to Execution.

Now, from here, I am speaking from what I have heard, read and know from being on this side of the walls. I am NOT quoting anyone or saying this is the fact on how this happened.

Microsoft leverages their existing infrastructure they have now for information and presentation for that information and just makes it better and adds even more value to it! BING! Bing is more than a search engine, Bing is an Information Platform. At modular platform that can be built on and added too without compromising the core functionality and capabilities. The smartest thing Microsoft could have done to pull ahead of what any other search engine is doing.

Microsoft wanted to go beyond a pretty voice interface for your phone. They wanted to tie everything together to bring something fresh. Not a re-hash of what was already being done, but something that is totally different perspective that it will make you re-think the way you feel about how you manage your life.

This is why Microsoft is branding Cortana as your Personal Assistant. She does more than fetch search results, maps and phone numbers. She helps you manage your life! Reminders when you get somewhere, reminders when you leave somewhere and even reminders for your reminders! Okay, maybe I got a little carried away there... but you get the idea.

Business users were hailing this approach as a great breath of fresh air, but then the consumer base grabbed on and ran with Cortana! Tracking EVERYTHING that anyone can be interested not only to manage life, but play too!

The roadmap has changed forever and continues to evolve. Cortana has already grown beyond what we thought we would be at now and the future can only get better!

Opening Cortana's API to developers is just more icing on this already fabulous cake! I can't wait to see what comes now!!

Ok, I have to do some work... brb

 

[Lumiamike]

Talderon, not that you or me or anyone else here has much say in the continued development of Cortana but what i find hard to understand is the privacy matter.

In the US privacy is something US citizens take very seriously, it is a cultural thing much like the belief Americans have instilled in them about there country and there rights, privacy is all important

In other countries privacy is important but not too such an extent, again it is down to a cultural thing.

I know you don't have the answers but it is worth a thought, How can an extremely US based company develop to its fullest potential a product such as Cortana when its developer core ( in general ) be off a mindset that is extremely concerned about privacy ?? would the product not end up when the dust has settled and in the hands of the public as a useable but limited piece of software ??

I appreciate there are developers and engineers world wide working on the back end BUT some one somewhere has had to have board meetings and written down a road map off what Cortana can and absolutely cannot do ... the cannot do part would be influenced by a US centric board or group of people, in other words perfectly viable in the US but could do better in the rest of the world... which to be perfectly honest does sum Microsoft up for a myriad of there products.

The sheer fact that MS is situated in the US could be with this product in particular and its development a major handicap.

 

[tadevinney]

not Cortana Related: doing an apple training and it is so cute that they are now coming out with swipe and family rooms.. now who is playing catch up.

 

[Talderon]

Talderon, not that you or me or anyone else here has much say in the continued development of Cortana but what i find hard to understand is the privacy matter.

In the US privacy is something US citizens take very seriously, it is a cultural thing much like the belief Americans have instilled in them about there country and there rights, privacy is all important

In other countries privacy is important but not too such an extent, again it is down to a cultural thing.

I know you don't have the answers but it is worth a thought, How can an extremely US based company develop to its fullest potential a product such as Cortana when its developer core ( in general ) be off a mindset that is extremely concerned about privacy ?? would the product not end up when the dust has settled and in the hands of the public as a useable but limited piece of software ??

I appreciate there are developers and engineers world wide working on the back end BUT some one somewhere has had to have board meetings and written down a road map off what Cortana can and absolutely cannot do ... the cannot do part would be influenced by a US centric board or group of people, in other words perfectly viable in the US but could do better in the rest of the world... which to be perfectly honest does sum Microsoft up for a myriad of there products.

The sheer fact that MS is situated in the US could be with this product in particular and its development a major handicap.

I can understand your view here.

Cortana development on the back-end for localization is being done in the country of the localization with local developers who know the local situation. Yes, there are things that needs certain approvals, but most of that is all done locally with the reports coming up stream.

Any global company like Microsoft that is worth a salt can't expect US Corporate HQ to have to approve EVERYTHING before things can get done when it comes to localization and understanding local culture. That is why we have leadership people in local areas that we are operating.