Microsoft has stuck another knife in the mainstream incarnation of its unloved electronic assistant, Cortana.
As the release of Windows 10 20H1 (or 2004) looms, the company posted a blog late Friday, letting the dozen customers still using the thing know that “consumer skills, including music, at home connected and third-party skills, will no longer be available in the updated Cortana experience in Windows 10. “
Cortana services in the Microsoft launcher on Android will also be removed as a sad-faced engineer resets the “Days since a consumer product was killed” counter.
Last year, a Microsoft staff member said The register that the original concept of Cortana as a consumer tool died about the same time as the company’s mobile dreams, and Cortana’s phasing out of Windows 10 is a testament to that. Any claim to a mainstream game with the assistant has been removed while Cortana is moving into the world of Microsoft 365 subscription.
And this wonderful world will be too. Customers can either joke on their PC (or use the keyboard) to retrieve upcoming appointments, set reminders or play with settings. The focus, according to Microsoft, will be on “productivity”.
Convenient as the consumer embraces the technology – the Harman Kardon Invoke speaker – seems to be quietly erased from history, judging by the company’s website. Nevertheless, the few who actually use things should hopefully see good service from them as slightly dumber speakers – Cortana aside, they sounded pretty good.
As is often the case with Microsoft, it will be American customers (or rather those who run in American English) who will first play with Microsoft 365 integration. The rest of us will get ” Bing’s responses and the opportunity to chat with Cortana “and the promise of” more productivity-based capabilities in the future “. We are lucky.
In the meantime, please join us for a final farewell as another piece of consumer technology from Microsoft heads to the dusty drawer of abandoned dreams, alongside the band, Kin, Media Center, Zune, Home Server, Windows Phone … ®
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