First Look: Amazon Alexa on Windows 10

At CES 2018, one of the big trends for PC makers is to bring Alexa to Windows 10. While fans of Cortana may not be too happy about this, having a choice is always a good thing.

I got to spend a little bit of time playing with Alexa on HP’s Wave PC and it works quite well. If you are familiar with Alexa on your smartphone, the assistant works exactly the same on the PC.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The computer I tested this on has microphones and an indicator light built in so that you do not need to manually launch Alexa for it to work. While you can hit cntrl+shift+a to launch the assistant, simply saying “Alexa” worked every time, even in the noisy conference room.

If you are looking for Alexa to control your PC, that doesn’t appear to be possible yet as it only operates within its current ecosystem. What this means is that searching your PC is still done with Cortana which puts you in an awkward situation of using two different assistants on the same piece of hardware.

For now, it looks like Alexa is locked to the new machines but seeing as it is only software, I don’t think it will take too long for it to show up in other places. Once we are able to get our hands on Alexa outside the CES show floor, we will do a deeper dive into the app and its functionality.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 22 comments

  • Roger Ramjet

    09 January, 2018 - 2:16 am

    <p>So, why isn't it straight up "just an App" in Windows store. What is the backstory behind this frenemy stuff where they are preloading by doing deals with PC makers like Netscape or McAfee or something. </p>

    • Marius Muntean

      09 January, 2018 - 3:18 am

      <blockquote><a href="#236189"><em>In reply to Roger Ramjet:</em></a></blockquote><p>because no one cares about that pathetic UWP and that junk store. stop dreaming!</p>

      • warren

        09 January, 2018 - 10:01 am

        <blockquote><a href="#236195"><em>In reply to Marius_Muntean:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>No one? *I* do! There, you're wrong.</p><p><br></p><p>And why do I care, you ask? Because UWP apps can't drop files all over my filesystem, they always, ALWAYS close cleanly, installing and uninstalling is consistent, and I can see how much CPU and data each app has used over the past several weeks. All of this applies to Win32 programs that have been turned into Store apps as well.</p><p><br></p><p>Like, i can tell you right now that in the last month, on my work machine, Spotify has used 2.1 GB of data, Slack has used 360 MB and Photos has used 30 MB. I could tell you how much CPU time, too, down to the second, if I could be bothered to type it out.</p><p><br></p><p>Can you tell me that about your Win32 apps? No, you fucking can't, so you can fuck right off with your negativity and FUD.</p>

        • Bats

          09 January, 2018 - 10:25 am

          <blockquote><a href="#236262"><em>In reply to warren:</em></a></blockquote><p>Lol… Who the heck else, besides you, actually cares about app specs? </p>

          • warren

            09 January, 2018 - 5:51 pm

            <blockquote><a href="#236266"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Ugh. Get off this site, non-techie.</p><p><br></p>

          • seapea

            10 January, 2018 - 12:42 am

            <blockquote><a href="#236266"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p>i do. i also look at EULA's. (i miss the days of no peanut butter guarantees.)</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

        • Rickard Eriksson

          10 January, 2018 - 5:21 am

          <blockquote><a href="#236262"><em>In reply to warren:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>The only problem i see holding back UWP apps is that the sandbox approch prevent certain programs to work as they do today. </p><p><br></p><p>Until developers update old programs and ensure new ones have the full functionality of old programs UWP programs remain a nutered experience. </p><p><br></p><p>I can understand those that do not want anything to do with the store but last i checked UWP programs work outside the store as well so that is a moot point.</p><p><br></p><p>I will gladly use UWP apps the day its more then glorified shells for an webpage. </p><p><br></p><p>If it can not provide the same experience as the old wi32 programs or better it will never take over from the win32 era.</p>

      • JimP

        09 January, 2018 - 1:59 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#236195"><em>In reply to Marius_Muntean:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I care.</p>

  • mi11sy

    09 January, 2018 - 2:57 am

    <p>"For now, it looks like Alexa is locked to the new machines but seeing as it is only software, I don’t think it will take too long for it to show up in other places"</p><p><br></p><p>Would there not be a requirement for a better microphone than ships in existing laptops? Saying "Alexa" and not getting a response, unless you are sitting in front of your device, could detract from the experience found with Alexa devices to date.</p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    09 January, 2018 - 3:39 am

    <p>Amazon could have done the right thing and put this on the Store instead of taking the bloatware route – how will the assistant be updated without impacting the user experience of an unassuming laptop purchase?</p><p><br></p><p>Of course, because this is Windows, when you give people a choice, everyone will treat the platform like shit unlike competing platforms where you're forced into a gatekeeper's rules.</p>

  • JimP

    09 January, 2018 - 8:17 am

    <p>Paul, were you able to tell if it was a Win32 or UWP app?</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      09 January, 2018 - 8:58 am

      <blockquote><a href="#236231"><em>In reply to JimP:</em></a></blockquote><p>Sadly, probably Win32 with a feeble, shittily written updater that runs alongside the 41 other piss poor updaters that load at boot time.</p>

      • JimP

        09 January, 2018 - 1:59 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#236235"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Thanks, but I wasn't looking for speculation.</p>

    • jerrynixon

      09 January, 2018 - 11:38 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#236231"><em>In reply to JimP:</em></a></blockquote><p>I can tell by looking. No. It is not a UWP app. But it still might be delivered through the Store by using the Desktop Bridge. Here's hoping. I imagine they elected Win32 so they could offer the app to Windows 7 users as well as Windows 10 users. The UWP sandbox might not accommodate some of the things they might want to do in the end. I can come up with some features that might not. Still, I can see, for one, that the control button box is missing and I know, for a fact, that UWP does not allow removing it. Not yet at least.</p>

      • JimP

        11 January, 2018 - 8:59 am

        <blockquote><a href="#236471"><em>In reply to jerrynixon:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>"I can tell by looking."</p><p><br></p><p>What specifically do you see that leads you to believe that it's a Win32 app?</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    09 January, 2018 - 8:49 am

    <p>Can you type to Alexa? It’s the thing I really love about Cortana.</p>

  • Tirith

    Premium Member
    09 January, 2018 - 11:41 am

    <p>What would be nice, should that co-op with Cortana and Alexa ever come together, would be if you could simple choose your front end interface. However depending on what your wanting the appropriate Assent handles it, seemlessly So I can say, "hey Cortana turn on the bed room lights" which are powered by Belkin's WeMo, and Cortana know to send that to Alexa. Or I can say "Hey Cortana turn off the Pool lights" which are powered by Insteon, and integrated into Cortana, so it just handles it. </p>

  • jerrynixon

    09 January, 2018 - 11:41 pm

    <p>I can't help but wonder. Is this an Amazon product or an HP product leveraging the Amazon API?</p>

    • seapea

      10 January, 2018 - 12:45 am

      <blockquote><a href="#236472"><em>In reply to jerrynixon:</em></a></blockquote><p>not just HP, jic you haven't seen similar yet – blog.aivanet.com/2018/01/08/alexa-is-coming-to-windows-10-pcs-from-hp-asus-and-others/</p><p><br></p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC