14 DAY TRIAL // Cortana won’t just be separated from the Windows Search in a feature Windows 10 update, but it would also get new capabilities, as spotted recently by a number of users running preview builds of the OS.
One of the biggest changes coming to the digital assistant is support for multiple users, which would technically mean that Cortana should be able to recognize more than just one voice and deliver a personalized experience to each user.
With multi-user voice recognition, Cortana would evolve behind the concept of digital assistant and focus more on features that make sense for a group of people.
Without a doubt, this is an indication that Microsoft is focusing heavily on the office environment, where Cortana could help increase productivity and collaboration for certain projects.
Currently in early testing stage
The feature is already being tested in Windows 10, but options to configure the multi-user voice recognition do not work just yet. Most likely, Microsoft will unlock them in the next few Windows 10 builds before they become available to everyone, possibly with the release of the 19H1 update in the fall.
While such a feature makes less sense on a PC, it could actually be substantially more useful on companion devices like a Cortana speaker. The digital assistant can thus recognize multiple pre-defined voices and act accordingly, all by loading settings that are specific to each user.
Microsoft has until now remained tight-lipped on how it sees Cortana evolving on the desktop, but judging from these recent tests, it may seem like the digital assistant is one of the company’s products that would only have a future in the enterprise.
As far as home users are concerned, Cortana is more or less a product that failed to gain ground, so it remains to be seen how many Windows 10 customers would continue to use it after it’s separated from the search feature.