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News Microsoft locks Cortana to Edge and Bing

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Gareth Halfacree, 29 Apr 2016.

  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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  2. Methanoid

    Methanoid What's a Dremel?

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    By all means do it when Edge finally gets a set of decent extensions like Chrome & Firefox have
     
  3. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    I'd finally got around to a full system clone of my main rig in preparation for installing Windows 10 as well... perhaps not, after all.

    I just worry that this lock-down-improved-[whatever]-feature-creep that appears to be happening will stop me from using my computer the way I want to. That said, I've used Cortana on my Win 10 laptop precisely once... to test that it worked. Then I've never used it since.

    Because as much as I like Linux, gaming and high-quality-office-suite productivity is pants.

    Oh well. :sigh:
     
  4. fix-the-spade

    fix-the-spade Multimodder

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    So Win 10 Cortana is being run by actual Cortana and she's still trying to take over the universe?

    Well that explains a lot about Microsoft lately.
     
  5. loftie

    loftie Multimodder

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    Personally I want Cortana to have an off switch for web searches that doesn't disable it, mainly because while I never use it to search for things, I do occasionally use it to open programs and when it decides it can't find said program it searches the web for it.
     
  6. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Just means I will be even less likely to use Cortana than I already am. I use Google and Bing, within Opera and don't touch Cortana.
     
  7. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    I've not activated cortana yet, neitehr on the phone nor on the PC, this doesn't make it more attractive.

    I waved off at the "hey do you want me to listen to you 24/7"
     
  8. Krazeh

    Krazeh Minimodder

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    I fail to see why this is news. Can you change the search provider and browser for Siri or Android Now? Don't see why there's an issue with MS saying Cortana will only use Bing and Edge. It doesn't change anything else. You can still go to a different search engine inside Edge or change the default search engine for any searches done inside Edge.
     
  9. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Unless I've misunderstood, don't use either Android or iOS myself, but from what I've read both of the main mobile OS's allow you to change the default search providers and browser, maybe I've got that wrong though.
     
  10. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    You fail to see why A Major Software Company which has previously Been Fined for Monopolistic Practices (in particular relating to Locking Out Competing Software) making A Sweeping Change to Already Published Software which Removes Support for Competitors is news? Really? Well, all righty then.
     
  11. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    They do, and Windows 10 still does. You can still set chrome to default browser and/or set duckduckgo as your search in Edge if that floats your boat.

    This is related to the 'digital assistants' - Cortana uses bing for results, Google Now uses Google and Siri uses a mix of Bing and Wolfram iirc and none of those can be changed.

    What has changed in Cortana [and it speaks to how much i use it given i hadn't noticed] is, when you asked it to search for web results it used to open the results in whatever the default browser was. Now it'll open the result in Edge, regardless of what your default browser is.

    EDIT: It only appears to do it for search results - clicking on a news item for instance still opens it in the default browser.
     
  12. GoodBytes

    GoodBytes How many wifi's does it have?

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    To better understand the problem. The real problem is that Firefox redirects web searches you default search engine, and in Chrome via extension does the same thing. So what is the problem?

    Bing has a lot of top widgets with search results. So when you use Cortana to get you some information that is compliments with web searches, it expects that you see that widget at the top. Microsoft don't have control on what Google displays. So if it expects you to see something and you don't, you would think that Cortana is stupid, and not as helpful.

    Ultimately, the search results and everything should appear on the start menu itself. I wonder if Microsoft will do this later on.
     
  13. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Yes i know it's related to the 'digital assistants' and that's what i was referring to, like i said maybe I've misunderstood what i read but it seems changing the default search engine that's used for Android's Now Launcher is a fairly simple task, and the same can be done with iOS and Siri by all accounts.
     
  14. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    The first one [android] details changing android default search [what pops when you hold down the home icon], you can change/replace that, and you can replace Google Now with Cortana but if you're using Google Now's 'cards' it uses google's services for all it's information, whether the Google is default android search provider or not. Likewise changing the default search for Safari doesn't affect siri in any way, it still uses bing and wolfram to provide it with information.

    Google Now or 'OK Google' or whatever it's called this week and 'Google Now Launcher' are not the same thing, despite the name.

    On my android device Google is the default search provider, but if i ask Coratan to search for something it gives me results from BING... likewise if i set Bing as the default search and ask 'OK Google' to find something it still returns results from google.
     
  15. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    That part i sort of understand, Cortana using Microsoft services, Google Now using Google services, etc, etc.
    What i don't understand is why Microsoft have chosen to restrict the web results to only opening in Edge, maybe Android and iOS do the same thing IDK as i don't use either of those, but if my default web browser is set to Opera, FF, or whatever, shouldn't a web result open in my preferred browser?
     
  16. forum_user

    forum_user forum_title

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    Is it possible to have Win10 and not use Cortana or any other forced assistant type feature?

    I really only want an OS to do what I need, not what a corporate entity wants to force on me.
     
  17. Wwhat

    Wwhat Minimodder

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    <removed due to Bit-Tech censorship>
     
    Last edited: 1 May 2016
  18. Wwhat

    Wwhat Minimodder

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    Possible yes, but it's not easy and requires some technical knowledge and causes various unexpected issues that need to be addressed as they come up. Possible though, but so hard that it really another reason why they 'update' you for free, because asking the general public money for being abused is a bit rich and pushing it.

    It's really the 'Kim Jong-Win' of operating systems at this point.
     
  19. forum_user

    forum_user forum_title

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    To be fair to MS, and after a little thought, it doesn't really bother me that much because I literally only play games on Steam with my main PC. I would never trust an MS operating system for storing sensitive data, emailing or shopping online and banking, or even surfing sensitive personal stuff.

    This story just left me feeling even more distrustful of them as a company.
     
  20. rainbowbridge

    rainbowbridge Minimodder

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