14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has already launched Cortana on Windows Phone 8.1, but according to some sources close to the matter, the company is working to bring the personal assistant to PCs and tablets.
While Redmond hasn't talked too much about this project until now, the company did offer some hints that Cortana could soon arrive on the full version of Windows.
This time, Microsoft published some new job openings on its Careers websites to hire a developer to make Cortana for Windows. The official job title is Cortana Software Development Engineer and states the following:
“Do you want to be part of the team that is building the next generation of Cortana? We are looking for strong and motivated developers to help shape the Evolution of the next generation of Microsoft’s Digital Assistant – Cortana! The landscape of digital assistant is challenging, exciting, and ground-breaking space.
Being part of the Cortana team, you will have the opportunity to push the frontier, redefine the personalization experience on Windows. You can help create serendipitous moments of discovery and satisfaction for the users and enable signature experiences that make Windows your indispensable companion in the real world. We also own the search experience, which is one of the premier and most used experiences in Windows.”
As LiveSide points out, this isn't the first time when Microsoft hints that Cortana could be launched on Windows, and an older post belonging to Microsoft Research hints that this is indeed a possibility.
According to this post, Cortana was built from the very beginning in such a way that it would be possible to port it to some other platforms, including Windows 8.
“Microsoft has intentionally built Cortana to scale out to all the different domains. Having a long-term vision means we have a long-term architecture. The goal is to support all types of human interaction—whether it’s speech, text, or gestures—across domains of information and function and make it as easy as a natural conversation,” the post reads.
While no details have been provided on timing, word is that Cortana might debut in Windows 9, the next full OS version prepared by Microsoft for early 2015. Windows 9 is very likely to bring several major improvements, so the addition of Cortana could clearly fit the feature lineup, especially because Microsoft is working to make the operating system easier to use and improve both the desktop and the Metro environments.