Cortana available on iOS and Android

Post by Zekio » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 9:12 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #41

probably_wrong wrote: post #10

I want to like Cortana, I really do. Unfortunately, it's linked to my phone's default language. So even though I could speak English, Cortana will not talk to me because my phone's interface is in Spanish. That is something I can understand - maybe there are development reasons why second language voice recognition is not possible. However, every time I update my OS, Cortana is added to my main screen again, perhaps…

Microsoft has some really weird approach to languages. Take Xbox One. You cannot possibly set your location to say France and language to English. Nope. If you want your console in English, you HAVE to set your location to one of the English-speaking countries. It's really infuriating.

Post by kuschku » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 9:30 PM UTC

jahewson wrote: post #88

junto wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have similar experiences living in a country where the dominant language is not my own. I hate the assumption that location should determine language preference. I've worked with several really smart programmers from the US during my career. However, I've noticed that their geographical knowledge of anything outside the US is extremely poor (generalisation I know). I assume this is due to the education system. Coul…

> So I say to Facebook and Google, "use the language of the user, as defined in their browser language s settings primarily, but offer the user a choice to change it. I'd like 25% of the increased sales" Unfortunately this is not always accurate. Chrome on my Mac for example uses "en-us" despite the fact that my machine is entirely configured to use British English (en-gb). For my own websites I'm forced to geoip the…

Post by kuschku » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 9:32 PM UTC

rpgmaker wrote: post #66

probably_wrong wrote: post #10

I want to like Cortana, I really do. Unfortunately, it's linked to my phone's default language. So even though I could speak English, Cortana will not talk to me because my phone's interface is in Spanish. That is something I can understand - maybe there are development reasons why second language voice recognition is not possible. However, every time I update my OS, Cortana is added to my main screen again, perhaps…

Google navigation is the best example of this. Because of aesthetics I keep my phone in English even though I live in a Spanish speaking country. It's ok for Navigation to assume my language to be English but they should offer the option of changing it. The English voice completely mangles the Spanish street names and makes directions difficult to follow at times. It really isn't difficult for Google to just offer th…

Post by LeoPanthera » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 9:49 PM UTC

jamesoneill wrote: post #98

jrockway wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accept-Language is fun. I have an accept-language that orders them en, ja, other. aa.com (American Airlines) then uses that to display the content to me in English, except dates and times which always appear in Japanese (１２月２５日 午後１時１０分). Fun times.

For a while I had my system language preferences set as en-UK, ja, en-US and every so often I'd get an installation that was in Japanese because there was no UK English version.

Post by acheron » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 10:26 PM UTC

vocatus_gate wrote: post #67

sremani wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a windows 10 user and use cortana on desktop, and xbox one user which is likely to get cortana, you will have one personal assistant across all your devices. Is it a clear benefit, it entirely depends on your use case. As Windows 10 notebook owner, even though I mostly use Cortana on my phone, she/it has enough context when I use her on my notebook.

Problem is Microsoft will likely abandon Cortana before very long, like they've done with SO many of their products. Plays4Sure, the original Surface, Silverlight, I could go on. MS has no stomach for long-term commitment to their non-core products, and as such I'm always counting down the days till their latest innovation/copyvation gets the ax.