Microsoft Admits Cortana Is an Epic Failure by Shamelessly Selling Amazon Echo Dot

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
BetaNews believes that Microsoft has raised the white flag for Cortana, as the company has begun selling Amazon’s competing assistant, the Echo Dot, on its own storefront. While the author claims the Halo-inspired AI “is actually pretty good,” it has drawn little interest from both hardware makers and consumers.

...as a final deathblow to Ms. Cortana, Microsoft is selling the Echo Dot directly. Yes, the Windows-maker is selling a device that outshined its own failed assistant. While it is embarrassing, there is a precedent -- Microsoft also sells the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S9. Yes, the company sells a device running Linux that helped destroy Windows Phone. Sigh. What's next? Microsoft selling Chromebooks?
 
I am blown away by people that have these devices in their homes.

I guess if you're not breaking any laws, there's nothing to fear; but I'd hate for it to misinterpret some kinky role-playing, and call the cops. :)

"Officer, just because she's dressed as the Right shark, and tied to the bed with a harpoon gun beside her, doesn't meant this is abusive!!"

"I'm super Cereal!"

rofl.
 
The click-baity-ness of headlines on this site lately are reaching Trumpian levels of ridiculousness.
 
gunbust3r said:
She died when they killed phones. No one wants to talk to their laptop or thermostat...
Click to expand...
I got a Google Home, which now serves as my alarm clock.

It's smart enough that I can say, eg. "wake me in an hour," and that's kind of cool. But it has trouble understanding my slurred morning speech, so it isn't perfect.

When I listen to music, it will occasionally start reciting Wikipedia articles. Scared the wits out of me the first time it happened.
 
They also allow Alexa on the Xbox now.

I get the feeling this may have more to do with MS trying to steer clear of European regulators looking for an easy pay day than how good Cortona is.
 
ryamkajr said:
The click-baity-ness of headlines on this site lately are reaching Trumpian levels of ridiculousness.
Click to expand...

How so? Selling Alexa-based products after spending so much time and money on their own dead voice assistant seems like about as clear a white flag as you're going to get from a giant corporation.

Maybe Microsoft should have bundled a Tay-based assistant for the Trump crowd... :D
 
Just waiting for a Unified AI or just a freaking custom name change so they can all be the same..
For fucks sake we dont need 12 different assistant names because one is better with music, and one controls the thermostat, and one connects to my light switches.

Perhaps Cortana will be assimilated...
Perhaps the unified AI will be the Borg..
 
There are too many platforms - people don't want multiple vendors. Imagine having a few different devices in your house and trying to figure out how to turn which light on/off. Siri, I mean Alexa, - damnit - someone turn off the lights.
I do use home automation and have Alexa devices in my house. I also have an iPhone and use Siri in my car. I don't want anymore - honestly, I'd like to get down to Alexa in my car (but the iPhone isn't that open. Yes, I can get Alexa, but it can't use my iPhone's features.)
 
Tech companies creating crap that lets us do stuff while staying on our butts. Doctors pleading with us to get up and move more. Perhaps we would all be happier and healthier if tech companies did something useful like get rid of spam phone calls.
 
yeah without a small speaker device like alexa/google Cortana was just going to slowly die off...

Think its a pretty cool idea but I just can't get into using a voice assistant. About as far as I have gotten so far is to set a timer while grilling or getting google maps to start/setup navigation on my phone.
 
Every time I helped someone set up their computer or install windows Cortana was the first thing I shut off, then if necessary uninstall the antivirus. Those two fuckers are trying to cut into my market share.
 
Its not a failure as long as they get to ship every copy of Windows 10 with Cortana baked in. Most companies would kill for that kind of position. I would think Cortana in some form is here to stay
 
Provide a PRIVATE digital assistant that will handle things on your local computer. You know... one that doesn't record anything or send anything out. Let people talk to their PC and dictate and set schedules and send emails... WITHOUT ANY OF IT wandering off over the internet except for what the assistant is ASKED to do online.

Come on, there is no one filling that space.

The sad thing is, we would pay for it. Windows licenses cost good money. If MS could get the starry dollar signs out of their eyes from other subscription software companies and stick to what they do well more people would be happy.
 
Megalith said:
BetaNews believes that Microsoft has raised the white flag for Cortana, as the company has begun selling Amazon’s competing assistant, the Echo Dot, on its own storefront. While the author claims the Halo-inspired AI “is actually pretty good,” it has drawn little interest from both hardware makers and consumers.

...as a final deathblow to Ms. Cortana, Microsoft is selling the Echo Dot directly. Yes, the Windows-maker is selling a device that outshined its own failed assistant. While it is embarrassing, there is a precedent -- Microsoft also sells the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S9. Yes, the company sells a device running Linux that helped destroy Windows Phone. Sigh. What's next? Microsoft selling Chromebooks?
Click to expand...

When they finally decided to kill the Windows Phone / Mobile platform, they have been deprecating Cortana ever since. They have not had any time to raise a white flag because they are too busy taking her out back and beating her to death.
 
Advil said:
Provide a PRIVATE digital assistant that will handle things on your local computer. You know... one that doesn't record anything or send anything out. Let people talk to their PC and dictate and set schedules and send emails... WITHOUT ANY OF IT wandering off over the internet except for what the assistant is ASKED to do online.

Come on, there is no one filling that space.

The sad thing is, we would pay for it. Windows licenses cost good money. If MS could get the starry dollar signs out of their eyes from other subscription software companies and stick to what they do well more people would be happy.
Click to expand...

Oh darn boss, I forgot to tell Cortana to send that schedule on my computer to my cell phone. This is why I am late. The sad thing is, they killed a promising technology, just like the Band and Phone.
 
Neapolitan6th said:
Its not a failure as long as they get to ship every copy of Windows 10 with Cortana baked in. Most companies would kill for that kind of position. I would think Cortana in some form is here to stay
Click to expand...

Just because they are baking it in does not mean it is not a failure. However, that failure is because they are deprecating and killing it.
 
Advil said:
Provide a PRIVATE digital assistant that will handle things on your local computer. You know... one that doesn't record anything or send anything out.
Click to expand...

If I understand it correctly, your personal computer can't do it yet. Alexa, Cortana, and your Android phone all handle speech as well as they do because they send a snapshot of your vocal request to a computer that is dedicated to parsing your voice and understanding the context of your question. Once that system decides what you want, it will perform an action with your IP as the client, or return the proper local query to your computer. This is way beyond voice-to-text. It's voice to voice map to words to context to action, and your computer doesn't have the brains or memory to do it comfortably. Hell, it probably doesn't have the space to store the keys for the library of voice maps.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is one of the better voice-to-text programs, and it is only doing voice-to-text and voice-to-macro. And it can be a dog when you attach it to Word.
 
gunbust3r said:
She died when they killed phones. No one wants to talk to their laptop or thermostat
Click to expand...
I am not so sure about that, but i also have a bleak outlook on my fellow men.
Seem like people like to talk to anything as long as it is not face to face, actually now i am sure of you blocked the worlds smartphones from working, you will see a lot of people with severe mental problems pretty fast.
Hell i don't mind admitting that building my new computer last week, and finding out i formatted the C: drive of my backup computer, then on day #2 i started to contemplate looking at the internet on my phone and tablet,,, so i threw the new computer together pretty fast.

But no talkie _ talkie on my devises unless it is with a person in the other end, or i am driving and doing my Waynes world impression cuz i am a awesome singer if i have to say so myself.
 
ryamkajr said:
The click-baity-ness of headlines on this site lately are reaching Trumpian levels of ridiculousness.
Click to expand...

You can see past the headline with just a small bit of reading, heaven forbid a sense of humor!

Ffs, you don't even need to click the link, it's right there in the text.
 
Next win 10 update is going to have an amazon backdoor wire tap in it. I wonder how much amazon paid for that? I also wonder what deal they did with Samsung to add their own wire tap to it?

How I wish we could go back to an operating system being just that instead of having to hide from our computers and phones. So sick of this tracking and data collecting shit.
 
I tried Cortana for about 20 minutes. It was interesting, but I just felt silly talking to my computer. It's a solution to a problem that I just don't have. If others like it, more power to them. I also just can't get behind any tech that can listen in on me. I think that's nuts. And video recording will become more prevalent, as well. No, thanks. I live alone, and I shouldn't have to worry about being nekkid around my computer or other devices. LOL.
 
So now, instead of just keeping her bound and gagged in a dark corner, can I please kick her out of the house completely?
 
Wyodiver said:
I tried Cortana for about 20 minutes. It was interesting, but I just felt silly talking to my computer. It's a solution to a problem that I just don't have. If others like it, more power to them. I also just can't get behind any tech that can listen in on me. I think that's nuts. And video recording will become more prevalent, as well. No, thanks. I live alone, and I shouldn't have to worry about being nekkid around my computer or other devices. LOL.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's weird, in sci-fi I like the idea of natural language voice recognition. But it reality it just seems gimmicky and unnecessary.
 
Did they ever release a Dot like device that was ~$30? You just can't play that game if there's better price points.
 
Megalith said:
Yes, the company sells a device running Linux that helped destroy Windows Phone. Sigh. What's next? Microsoft selling Chromebooks?
Click to expand...

Microsoft makes good money on Android and MacOS through licensing their IP. Sure, not as much as selling their own OS but its a nice hedge nonetheless.
 
I could never even get her to acknowledge me speaking to her. How exactly are you suppose to pronounce the stupid name? Is it Cortan-aaa, Cortan-ah, or Cortan-ae? Only one of them is correct and will get her reply. Then M$ integrated it into the start menu of my desktop and all its ever done is get in my way. There's no simple way to get rid of it and no way to fully remove it without hacks.

If anyone from Microsoft can read this; you suck. Cortana is, was, and always will be a piece of shit.
 
Megalith said:
BetaNews believes that Microsoft has raised the white flag for Cortana, as the company has begun selling Amazon’s competing assistant, the Echo Dot, on its own storefront. While the author claims the Halo-inspired AI “is actually pretty good,” it has drawn little interest from both hardware makers and consumers.

...as a final deathblow to Ms. Cortana, Microsoft is selling the Echo Dot directly. Yes, the Windows-maker is selling a device that outshined its own failed assistant. While it is embarrassing, there is a precedent -- Microsoft also sells the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S9. Yes, the company sells a device running Linux that helped destroy Windows Phone. Sigh. What's next? Microsoft selling Chromebooks?
Click to expand...

I predict we will see a cortana 'voice' coming to the Amazon Echo. Then.. TADAA.. Cortana on Amazon Alexa devices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top