Microsoft will soon end support for Cortana – Windows

On June 2, 2023, Microsoft said it would stop supporting Cortana on Windows 11, saying last goodbye to its once-hyped digital assistant. Microsoft will end Cortana as it was never really popular among users. The company has slowly reduced its support for the service in the past few years. 

Microsoft developed this virtual assistant, Cortana and released it in 2014 to compete with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It could be used for scheduling appointments, managing their calendar, setting reminders, web searches, music playback, and device control. However, it failed to gain popularity among consumers.

Microsoft removed the Cortana mobile app in 2021 and said that it would focus on Cortana as a productivity assistant. But even this move couldn’t save Cortana. Eventually, Microsoft had no choice but to shut down Cortana completely. So, users will no longer be able to download or use Cortana on Windows 11.

This decision was taken so that Microsoft could solely focus on its new AI voice assistant services which are Voice access in Windows 11, the new AI-powered Bing, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Windows Copilot in preview. See what these AI services are able to do.

• Voice access in Windows 11 will help users to control their PC using voice commands. 

• AI-powered Bing provides detailed and accurate web search results. 

• Microsoft 365 Copilot uses AI to help with tasks using your Microsoft 365 data.

• Windows Copilot manages AI assistance to speed up work and collaboration across various applications.

In fact, Microsoft wants consumers to use its new set of AI services.

Who will take over Cortana’s role in Windows Installation?

You must know that Cortana used to provide spoken instructions to users. It was beneficial for users who didn’t know the process of Windows installation. Are you also wondering now who will take over this role? Microsoft has not yet revealed who will take over the role of Cortana’s spoken instructions, but there are certain possibilities. Read below:

Voice access in Windows 11

Microsoft may expand the abilities of voice access which will include Windows installation instructions also.

The new AI-powered Bing

Microsoft can also create a specialized Bing search experience for Windows installation instructions with voice support.

A new AI voice assistant

Microsoft could develop a new AI voice assistant for the Windows installation process which will provide spoken instructions and answer user questions.

Or maybe none of the above. It may also be possible that Microsoft will not have any replacement for this. The company may provide written instructions or video tutorials only. Eventually, it all depends on the company. Let’s see whether Microsoft will bring a replacement for Cortana’s spoken instructions or not!

Why didn’t Cortana become successful?

There are a number of reasons why didn’t Cortana became successful:

• It was launched too late, till then Alexa and Google Assistant were already established as the leaders in the virtual assistant market.

• Cortana was not as well-integrated with other Microsoft products and services as it could have been, so many users thought of it as useless.

Whatever the reasons were, Cortana was a great technical development. It was the first virtual assistant that was able to understand and respond to natural language. In fact, it was also able to learn user preferences and adapt its behaviour over time.

It’s clear that Microsoft wants to use AI in order to improve the user experience in Windows and Microsoft 365. Let’s see if the success of Microsoft’s new AI services will replace the hole left by Cortana, till then stay connected with oreonow.