Windows Weekly 533: Sumo in a Sidecar

Leo, Mary Jo, and I discuss the romance of the week, the controversy of the week, the build(s) of the week, and the awesomeness of the week.

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Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Save Big on Groove Music Pass

You can get 7 months of Groove Music Pass for just $9.99, through the end of the Labor Day weekend. Also, PCs are on sale at the Microsoft Store, including Surface.

Bonus tip: If you preordered Call of Duty: World War II on Xbox One, you can play it over the weekend

App pick of the week: ReCore Definitive Edition for Windows 10/Xbox One

Remastered for HDR and with tons of new content, ReCore Definitive Edition is the first Windows 10 game in Xbox Game Pass. It’s also an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

Bonus app pick: Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac makes it easier than ever to run Windows 10 apps on your Mac.

Enterprise pick of the week: Microsoft Unified Support

Last week, my codename was “Volta.” This week, I have more details on what Volta is and how it could affect businesses using Microsoft Premier support.

Enterprise pick of the week No. 2: How to think about feature updates and Windows Server

We know that MS is going to “launch” Windows Server 2016’s first feature update during Ignite. But how should IT pros think about upgrading once these feature updates begin? Hint: It’s not the same as how Windows 10 updates work. For Server, LTSC is a valid option for those who don’t want to update twice yearly.

Beer pick of the week: Evil Twin Sumo in a Sidecar

A nice 7% IPA with a little “umami” twist – hence the “sumo.” A little apricot, a little tang. From the Evil Twin folks (based in Denmark and Brooklyn).

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• nbplopes

  01 September, 2017 - 10:17 am

  <p>This Cortana, Siri or Google Assistant centric way to talk with AI does not work well from many angles easy including voice interface experience for the most basic things!</p><p><br></p><p>For instance:</p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Siri, ask Fitbit how many calories do I have left to eat?"</p><p><br></p><p>This is silly. This is what Google Assistant also does and now Alexa with the assistant passthroughs to Cortana it gets even worst (this is not a skill!!!)</p><p><br></p><p>Much ways better would be:</p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Fitbit, how many calories do I have left to eat?"</p><p><br></p><p>But this would require a change in paradigm on how companies are approaching voice interfaces and platforms. I was hoping when MS jumped into the multiple bot bandwagon would also follow suit with Cortana.</p><p><br></p><p>Instead of adding skills, apps would add <strong>Voice Enabled Apps</strong> built on top of Azure AI/Amazon/Google/Apple platforms. Each <strong>VEA</strong> (Fitbit, Office, Amazon, Spotify, Pizzahut ….) with its own sets of skills.</p><p><br></p><p>Yes, default virtual assistants would still be there for default device services for phone calls, reminders, calendar and so on.</p><p><br></p><p>I think this would trigger far more interest to developers and businesses in general than as it is … As it is, it looks like these companies want full control over their services (voice services) having these assistants working has intermediaries for everything.</p><p><br></p><p>The Voice Interfaces are just not there at all yet. Look for instance at GUI's. Each app have their own UI built on top of a standard framework … In the iPhone we have the Google Maps app and the Apple Maps app. If I want the services of one I open it and start interacting. Wouldn't be much better if we could that with voice too?</p><p><br></p><p>For instance:</p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Maps, directions to …" </p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Google Maps, directions too …"</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Hey OneNote, take note of blabvlablabvla."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Hey Hugo Boss, …. "</span></p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Facebook, the latest news on Donal Trump …. "</p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Twitter, @Donald Trump ….."</p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Instagram, post this picture" or "Hey Instagram, post the last picture I've taken" (instead of going to share so on and so forth).</p><p><br></p><p>"Hey Slack, …."</p><p><br></p><p>I think this is the natural progression of what people are already used to, apps. Both developers and user. This HAL9000 driven scenarios that forget that HAL9000 was the AI of a single Ship, not the entire Planet Earth does not work well IMHO. The reality is far more interesting and rich than what movies present.</p><p><br></p><p>If we think about it, there should not be any <strong>VEA</strong> concept for the end user, the Apps concept is just enough. We install an app with this capability and we could summon its skills any time by voice, each backed up by devices core platforms like we do today with GUI driven Apps already. (Amazon AI if the OS is from Amazon, MS AI if the OS is from MS, so on and so forth).</p><p><br></p><p>I think that the OS/Cloud platform that cracks this will lead. I have not been able to replicate without flaw anything that was advertised by both Google and MS as the next generation, contextual assistants. I think you guys have not too frame what I can ear. I use it to command Music, Reminders, Start and Answer Calls, Directions, Schedule timers and nothing else. I have not been able to have an efficient conversation, only being frustrated about its imitations considering what could be added as described above.</p><p><br></p><p>At the moment, has a developer I feel that I would be feeding a "beast" (Cortana, Siri, Alexa …) with fundamentally no return to my business neither adding value to my users. My brand, app or service is replaced by some name at the discretion of these companies so on and so forth. Everything is at the "beast" discretion and who controls the beast would control every voice enabled business.</p><p><br></p><p>This is regardless if the app is installed on a PC, Tablet, Smart Phone, Smart Speaker, Smart Console, Setopbox, whatever ….</p><p><br></p><p>Cheers.</p><p><br></p><p>PS: Siri does provide the names of the sources in the UI. Better than Alexa as it seams. But that is just it, Businesses do not want to be just a Source of some futuristic agent whose name is taken out of some movie, book or game, or someone children added as footnote. Where is the Presence in that?</p>

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