Microsoft Brings Cortana To Desktop; Announces HoloLens To Bring Holograms Everywhere

Two big news events came out of Microsoft’s “Windows 10 Briefing” today.” First, Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana is coming to Windows desktops from Windows phones. Second, Microsoft is bringing holograms to everyday life through its HoloLens device to be released later this year.

Cortana will be available in the next release of Windows 10 in about a week or so, which is available to anyone who wants to sign-up for the Windows Insider Program.

On the desktop, Cortana will be available through a notification windows, can be addressed by voice using “Hey Cortana” followed by commands and will show things within Microsoft’s new Spartan browser. For example, a search for weather information in Spartan address bar will cause Cortana to show a direct answer there.

Meanwhile, just as Google has retired Google Glass for retooling, Microsoft is out with its own headset — the Microsoft HoloLens, which allows people to interact with holograms.

During today’s demo, HoloLens was used to assemble a quadcopter virtually:

Here’s another shot from Microsoft showing someone interacting with a browser and menus:

Microsoft said that HoloLens would be released in the “Windows 10 timeframe,” which means whenever Windows 10 is released, sometime later this year. No pricing was announced. HoloLens is designed to work with any Windows device; any Windows app developer can write to tap into it.

Wired has a close-up look at the device. Microsoft shares more about all its news today here. Below is our live blog of the event.

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.