Microsoft will remove Cortana as a standalone app in Windows 10 and Windows 11 later this year, according to the official announcement on the support page. One more chapter in the death of this digital assistant that never enthused the bulk of Windows customers.
The assistant arrived in 2014 as a response to Apple’s Siri and Google Now, but the Windows Phone/Mobile fiasco marked its destiny from the beginning. Like other Windows components, including the Modern UI dual interface and its apps, it was intended more for use on mobile devices with touch screens and not for a standard desktop where very few have used it.
And it is that Cortana was born dead , although the burial is taking place with a dropper. Microsoft separated it from the search service as it was originally in Windows 10 and removed it from the system installation tool where no one understood its presence. Later, it struck down the iOS and Android apps and has been reducing its presence in Windows due to its little use. In addition, those who have wanted to use a digital assistant on their PC have been able to opt for Alexa, more widespread, with more skills and technically superior to Microsoft’s development.
Goodbye Cortana app
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted a few months ago that virtual assistants like Cortana were a dead end . He even declared in an interview with the Financial Times that “everyone was dumb as a rock” and was particularly devastating with Cortana: “we had a product that was supposed to be the new interface for handling information that didn’t work” .
It is logical to drop ballast. Microsoft will stop supporting the Cortana app in Windows, but says its technology will continue to be available as a productivity assistant in apps like Outlook and Teams. In any case , we do not believe that it will be for a long time because the Redmond firm has the replacement prepared with several tools where the support of Artificial Intelligence that it is promoting in all its software will stand out.
The most important is Windows Copilot , the new interface presented at the BUILD conference, in charge of controlling the operating system and applications and which is supposed to offer more facilities to use all the functions of the system, and to adjust its configuration to the maximum.
Copilot won’t be alone, joining Windows 11 Voice Access that lets you control your PC using your voice and the new AI-powered experience of ChatGPT in Bing Search that lets you ask questions and get answers using natural language. . And finally we have the Microsoft 365 Copilot , another application based on AI to create, edit and share content in Microsoft applications and services, including calendar appointments, documents and email messages.
We will see how Microsoft integrates all these tools into Windows. As for Cortana… rest in peace.