Posted on 12/06/2020 3:28:03 PM PST by dayglored
Should we be worried?
The undead have telepathic powers if Microsoft's latest Windows 10 Insider emission is to be believed.
Perhaps stung by cruel criticism that the last batch of bleeding-edge Dev Channel releases have been a little light on features, build 20270 arrived overnight and apparently imbued Microsoft's unloved assistant, Cortana, with mindreading abilities.
Assuming one's PC has a mind of its own, of course (and judging by the shenanigans that seem to happen every Patch Tuesday, we're starting to wonder).
"You can now use Cortana on your PCs to translate their thoughts into direct actions to open and find files and save time spent navigating to apps/folders to locate and open files," enthused Windows Insider bigwig Brandon LeBlanc as he trumpeted a new File Skill.
English-speaking US users can use Cortana to search for local files, if signed in using a Microsoft account, or in their SharePoint or OneDrive for Business storage for those with corporate credentials.
Folk using a Windows 10 device outside the US are sadly denied the prospect of barking file search orders at Cortana and must instead make do with common or garden search techniques.
Prodding of Cortana's corpse aside, the Dev Channel build also includes updates (already shunted to the Beta Channel as part of the Windows Feature Experience Pack) in the form of a split keyboard mode when a 2-in-1 touch device is in the portrait posture. An "Advanced View" checkbox has also been added to Optimize Drives to show hitherto hidden volumes.
Fixes include an issue where apps unexpectedly closed when a user clicked the maximise button as well as dealing with delays logging on to devices with lots of users. Known issues include the usual hangs when attempting to install a new build.
As ever, there is no guarantee that anything in the Dev Channel build will show up on the desktops of everyday users. Handy, because nobody truly wants to know what their PC is really thinking. ®
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Cortana is SO SO SO awful!
Just wait until they resurrect Tay...
Regular Windows 10 users may or may not get these features, depending on feedback.
Cortana saves me every once in a while. I sorta appreciate it . . . every now and then.
Still will keep it disabled.
I hate the damn thing.
Listen, I pampered you, gave you only the best unfiltered power, kept your anti-virus up to date, and cleaned up after your crashes. The least you can do is find my damned spreadsheet!
No freakin' way...and some things need to go BOOM!
Saves you from what?
That’s a great explosion, what’s it from?
Cortana, unloved?
(She) was great on my Windows phone until my phone was outmoded. I still use the phone, but I’m dreading the day I have to choose between Apple and Android/Google.
Microsoft has a $hit operating system. The only thing keeping Microsoft afloat is the Office suite.
Microsoft’s largest growth sector is Azure cloud with Teams a close second. To say Microsoft is being “kept afloat” by Office is ludicrous.
Yet you failed to defend Windows 10 because you know it is a piece of $hit OS. Your failure to rebut my central claim is very telling and an implicit agreement with my statement.
Thanks for playing.
You made a statement that makes it sound like Microsoft is “barely holding it together” financially. Their latest kernel, injected into Win10, Server 2019, nano, and Azure, is the strongest kernel offering they’ve ever put out.
Your argument that Office is what’s holding them together is still ridiculous. Meanwhile, you come at me with ad hominem attacks. Bravo.
I loved my windows phones, i hate my new googley spy phone.
I just pulled a really old nokia 635 out of my drawer the other day and am considering switching my sim.
I have a idol4s winphone but the speaker broke and i really dont want to take it apart yet, but i am almost am at that point
Disabled it from day one. It will stay disabled until day Infinity.
that cortana software did something to my system on an update and now my touchpad is all screwed up and can’t do my normal stuff I was doing before with right clicking.
I am going to have to go back to disabling updates
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