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Microsoft Limits Cortana Search Box In Windows 10 To Bing and Edge Only (venturebeat.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Microsoft has announced a big change for how the Cortana search box in Windows 10 will work going forward: all searches will be powered by Bing and all links will open with the Edge browser. This is a server-side change going into effect today. Once it takes effect on your Windows 10 computer, Cortana will no longer be able to serve up results from third-party search providers, like Google or Yahoo, nor take you to a third-party browser, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager of search and Cortana, said in a Windows blog post announcing the change, "Unfortunately, as Windows 10 has grown in adoption and usage, we have seen some software programs circumvent the design of Windows 10 and redirect you to search providers that were not designed to work with Cortana. The result is a compromised experience that is less reliable and predictable. The continuity of these types of task completion scenarios is disrupted if Cortana can't depend on Bing as the search provider and Microsoft Edge as the browser. The only way we can confidently deliver this personalized, end-to-end search experience is through the integration of Cortana, Microsoft Edge and Bing -- all designed to do more for you."
It sure seems like this is anticompetitive and probably should land Microsoft in some hot water with the DOJ.
Remember, this is not yet one week since Microsoft & Google announced a "no complaint" to regulators pact:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/04/22/1421201/microsoft-google-agree-to-stop-complaining-to-regulators-about-each-other
In classic Microsoft fashion, they forge an agreement with someone and then screw them over in the most mean-spirited, legalistic way possible. Google should have known better on this one.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
Wow, that's got to be the most irrational position on a search engine I've ever heard. Blind devotion to one particular engine is foolish enough, but intentionally wasting your *own* time instead of using the results in front of you? That's just stupid.
I use Bing. I use Google. I use DuckDuckGo. I use at least two of them on almost any given day. Many days I use all three. Absent situations where I know the results will be off because I used (or failed to use) site-specific syntax in my search, I don't care much which one I'm using. DDG for sensitive-ish stuff (default on my work machine) but it's annoying otherwise because opening its links is slow. I use Bing and Google pretty much interchangeably beyond that. Some searches produce better results in the one, some in the other. It doesn't make a difference.
Hell, I'd probably even use Yahoo if I had any reason to. I replaced Firefox with Pale Moon, though, and seem to therefore not have any browsers configured for Yahoo (and I'm not going to bother changing that).
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
I cannot fathom a reason I'd use Bing. It's a second rate search engine.
I will, however, shut down Cortana and save a few cycles.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I'm a new and somewhat reluctant user of Windows 10. I only use it as a platform to launch certain games, via Steam. All of its other features (other than what it provides as APIs to games) I don't need. I especially don't need any of this Cortana crap, auto-updates, or other typical PC-type features. I have a Mac for all that stuff.
So what I'd like to ask is how do I disable everything I don't need? Can someone point me to a "minimum Windows 10 for dummies" kind of thing? I've been through all the interface that I can see, but I suspect I'm only scratching the Surfaceâ, because it still acts somewhat intrusively, even interrupting a Dirt Rally session mid-stage the other day to tell me it needed to restart to install an update (and DR's design meant the stage was voided). I despise that behaviour - it must be possible to set things up such that I'm in charge of it, and not the other way around? Any tips or help appreciated!
The only problem is if you're substituting a pretender like Bing for results you would have gotten from Google then you are providing consistently "bad" results. If people wanted to use Bing, they would. People choose Google because it is better and meets their needs. Only through underhanded evil acts such as this can MS trick people into using their search engine. I will be sure to point this out to every person I have influence with regarding computer stuff and that's quite a few people.
I agree. Note that I never said "good" results. I said "consistent", which was absolutely intentional.
For instance, take their "Pizza Hut" example. Say that Pizza Hut pays for a sponsorship with MS. Now, when you say "I want to order a pizza", you might see Pizza Hut as the first result (okay, dammit, now I'm thinking about pizza for dinner). Had that gone through another search engine, they couldn't guarantee those results, and more importantly (to them), they'd lose out on that sponsorship revenue.
Honestly, I don't have a real problem if companies try to earn ad revenue this way. I mean, if I want a pizza, then by all means, suggest a pizza place for me. But don't try to pretend you're doing me some favor by locking out anyone else from doing the same thing simply because they have a better search engine.
If Microsoft was serious about trying to improve the customer experience, I'd be able to simply dictate to Cortana:
Me: Cortana, I'd like to order a pizza. ... (blah blah)... Shall I order this for you now?
Cortana: Would you prefer Papa John's or Pizza Hut? (note: the two places I actually order from)
Me: Papa John's. The usual.
Cortana: That would be a Papa John's large pizza with
Me: Yes.
Cortana: Your pizza has been ordered, and should arrive approximately 40 minute from now.
When a digital assistant gets that useful, I'll think about turning it on again. But WTF Microsoft... is it that hard to open a web browser and type "pizza hut"? Does anyone need help figuring out how to shop for a black dress on Amazon? It feels like they're shooting so low right now it's utterly pathetic.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
Cortana.
Where do you want to go today?
Well you CAN'T! FUCK YOU!
Instead of turning the Cortana interface into a useful tool, they've basically hamstrung it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Ok firstly you are WAY too emotionally invested in this for anybody to take your obscenities seriously. But to his point, what is the setup that offers that sort of integrated experience that you get with a Surface Pro or an iPad Pro? It's the same old "me-too" story with FOSS again, late to the game with no disruptive innovation. For what it's worth Microsoft did exactly the same thing with Windows Phone, it (like the Linux desktop) is quite a good system but it (and desktop Linux) was a late entrant to a mature market and provided no disruptive features to win over users. The proprietary vendors are getting out in front and producing great end-user products that end-users like and the FOSS evangelists like yourself are just getting all angry about it instead of innovating. The FOSS innovation and great products are backend ones, not consumer-facing ones so you can either keep getting all upset about it or you can innovate or fund innovation in the consumer product FOSS space.
Even today most of the people here are still getting riled up about Microsoft because in the end they use Microsoft products, still hung up on the actions in of Microsoft in the mid 90s but still using their products and supporting them decades later.
Microsoft's strategy now is to copy everyone else in vains hopes to make something work. Cortana is a crude mixture of Siri and the much hated Google search bar what would install itself on your browser when you weren't looking. Why? Monetization. The only thing they care about their users anymore is monetization.
The Metro style apps, a vain attempt to strike it rich in the apps store market (like very other wannabe developer on the planet who thinks apps will help with early retirement). A microsoft ID, a vain attempt to spy on what their customers are doing and buying. Customers start to move towards phones and tablets and Microsoft stupidly decides to switch everything to a touch screen oriented device and fails badly; fires the VP in charge of that and replaces him with the moron that gave us Windows 10. In desparation they decide to surreptitiously install Windows 10 on computers when no one is looking.
Between the failure of Windows Mobile and now XBox winding down combined with falling PC sales, Microsoft has got to be feeling the heat from investors when asked, "where's the growth in 10 years." Right now their revenues are fine but, with no future money making divisions, they risk stagnation which investors see as death.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
Slashdot really likes modding up bullshit if it plays into the Microsoft hate narrative doesn't it?
Xbox isn't winding down, it's pulling in record console sales and profits - it's not outsold the PS4 but Playstation wasn't "winding down" just because it was outsold by the Wii and the 360. In fact, Microsoft are just about to announce the next Xbox One hardware design. How do you come up with this shit? PC sales are no longer falling - the PC sales slowdown is almost entirely down to a lack of software pushing the limits like video games used to such that systems just last longer now - as many people are still buying them, and people who didn't have them (i.e. in poorer nations) are beginning to afford them, so the installed base is still growing, we're just not seeing new sales as frequently.
This is in large part why Microsoft changed the model with Windows 10 - by giving it away free with windows updates they managed to reduce their dependence on PC sales to increase their install base.
Microsoft still have plenty of new divisions making money too, not least it's cloud division with Azure which includes customers like Apple and with it's greater open source push it's only going to further be able to install itself as a provider in the application server world. These areas are growth areas for Microsoft, it's only real failures in recent years have been Windows 8 which it quickly moved on from and the mobile market. It's still the desktop leader by a wide margin and is growing it's marketshare of the server market and internet services.
Long story short, stop lying, and the people who modded you up because they love a Microsoft bash no matter how unfounded are retards. Just like you.