Microsoft is tightening control over Cortana. Only its Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine will work with searches initiated through Windows 10 digital assistant, the company said Thursday.
Microsoft isn’t prohibiting third party browsers like Opera and Chrome from working with Windows 10, and you can still configure the operating system to launch those browsers by default, when, say, a coworker e-mails you a link to a Web page. But, if you launch a search via Cortana, only Edge and Bing will be used to complete it, Microsoft said in a blog post.
“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,” Ryan Gavin, the general manager of search and Cortana, wrote. “The result is a compromised experience that is less reliable and predictable.”
Microsoft said the “only way” it can deliver a “personalised, end-to-end search experience” is by integrating Cortana, Edge, and Bing.
Whether Edge and Bing are the only way Microsoft can deliver these experiences is open to debate – possibly in front of a judge. In 1998, Microsoft was sued by the US government, which argued that bundling Windows with the Internet Explorer browser constituted an illegal monopoly – a claim that looks fairly absurd, given the state of apps and how they’re integrated in operating systems today. But Microsoft clearly wants to use its services to provide the best experience possible, this move is no different than Google displaying directions to a location within its Google Maps app in Android.
IDG News Service
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