Steve Ballmer tried to name Cortana 'Bingo' before leaving as Microsoft CEO

Microsoft's digital banana Cortana almost had a different name; Bingo. The former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, tried to name the assistant Bingo every bit 1 of his last acts running the visitor. Those plans savage through, as the leaked proper name of Cortana proved popular amongst bloggers and gamers. Satya Nadella took over for Ballmer as CEO and Microsoft decided to stick with the Cortana proper noun.

That tidbit of data comes from a conversation betwixt Alice Newton Rex and Sandeep Paruchuri, a former project director at Microsoft. In that give-and-take, Rex and Paruchuri run through the history of Cortana, including its development process, launch on Windows Phone, and ultimate demise as a competitor to Alexa and Siri.

Cortana, which was supposed to exist named Alyx, was shaped by several moving parts within Microsoft, including the development of Windows Phone 8, the growth of consumer-focused AI, and the decline of Smart Search. Apple's Siri also played a role in the nativity of Cortana. Microsoft'due south assistant competed with Apple tree's, but it took a unlike arroyo.

"Siri had recently launched, and it felt like the outset of something exciting. But Sandeep's team felt Siri was likewise reactive; you nevertheless had to ask information technology to do something," explained Rex. "So they started to wonder: how can you do what Siri does, but get alee of the questions people are going to accept before they inquire them?"

Cortana focused on delivering information to users in scenarios, not but in response to questions. For example, the assistant would pop up with a reminder to purchase flowers when a person walked by a flower shop.

Microsoft too injected Cortana with a personality. This earned positive feedback, equally did several aspects of the digital assistant. Unfortunately for Cortana, its success was brusque-lived. Windows Phone, the platform that showcased Cortana, was shut downwards in 2022. The Cortana apps on Android and iOS were discontinued in 2022.

Cortana lives on, but it has a dissimilar focus than initially intended. Microsoft baked Cortana into apps like Teams and Outlook as a productivity tool rather than having the digital banana compete with the likes of Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant.

A combination of factors led to the downfall of Cortana, but an internal shift within Microsoft played a role.

"Across the company, anything that was AI or ML started being branded Cortana, and so the name ceased to correspond anything at all," explains King's post. "It was the starting time of the end. With the rapid dilution, the brand faltered before information technology even had a adventure to truly reach the masses."

Perchance Ballmer was right. Cortana did fail as a consumer AI assistant and has since shifted to beingness a productivity helper in Teams and other Microsoft apps. If he had his fashion, maybe people would be maxim "Hey Bingo" instead of invoking Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/steve-ballmer-tried-name-cortana-bingo-leaving-microsoft-ceo

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