/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23962442/acastro_STK067__03.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24247717/lp_logo_3.0.jpg){kind=logo}
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24016885/STK093_Google_04.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24808816/Starfield__The_Settled_Systems___Supra_Et_Ultra_____Starfield__The_Settled_Systems___Su)
[ad_1]
Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing Cortana, at least in Windows, where the assistant will be removed in the near future.
Windows Central reports on Microsoft’s revelation that the Cortana app will no longer be supported in Windows in late 2023 (as tipped by @perbylund on Twitter).
However, the aging assistant will still live on in other Microsoft services, including Microsoft Teams and various bits of Outlook Mobile, so Cortana hasn’t been banned outright.
For Windows 11, however, you won’t need Cortana anyway because, as Microsoft reminds us, there are already elements in the operating system to replace the digital assistant.
As for voice control, there’s now a comprehensive voice access feature that Microsoft has been touting of late.
And for questions and help, there’s the new Bing AI (ChatGPT-powered bot) on tap, naturally, plus something bigger in the pipeline — CoPilot.
In case you (somehow) missed it, Microsoft recently brought Copilot to Windows 11 to sit at the heart of the operating system, offering help with whatever you’re doing.
Analysis: An inevitable move from Microsoft
While Copilot isn’t here yet, AI will be far more widespread in terms of its scope than Cortana. When it comes to help getting things done in Windows 11, it will not only tell you about useful features for a given task, but also offer to enable them automatically when needed. Copilot can also summarize a Word document, for example, Bing AI-style, and its far wider range of skills and usefulness make Cortana irrelevant.
Just on that basis, it’s no surprise to see Microsoft giving Cortana the elbow from Windows. Indeed, with Cortana cut off for late 2023, this is perhaps another suggestion that this is when Copilot will make the move to be included in Windows 11 – perhaps with the 23H2 update? We know that Copilot will be in the Windows 11 Preview builds this month (or at least that’s what Microsoft told us), so it looks like everything is going well.
Although there’s always a chance that Copilot is such a great feature, Microsoft might want to save it for next-gen Windows (Windows 12, probably) that’s (rumored) coming next year.
Whatever the case, Cortana isn’t exactly going to be missed outside a niche of users, at least in Windows anyway. As a digital assistant, rather than an all-rounder, Microsoft had previously angled Cortana more towards business-related use (hence Cortana remaining in Teams and after being ditched from Windows). So, none of this is a shock, and it just makes sense for Microsoft to oust Cortana with Copilot coming to Windows 11.
