Microsoft Cortana: Why can’t you be more like the Windows Key?

If Cortana had an annoying sibling who constantly reminds her of how much better at everything it is, it would be the Windows Key. And who can blame it? Looking at all the cool stuff it can do, you’d think Cortana is a bit of a red-headed stepchild in the Windows 10 family nucleus.

To power users, it’s all about the Windows Key: Do you want to activate task view? Win+Tab. How about taking a quick look at the action center? Win+A. Hey guess what... the Windows Key can activate Cortana too, just use Win+C (Ouch... feel the burn?).

Ok, to be fair, Cortana can do some cool tricks too, like opening apps, compose and send messages and email, make Skype calls, and even set appointments and reminders, but in the end of the day, it seems that Microsoft is kind of holding back on those of us who would like to do more on a PC, even when we are ten feet away from the keyboard, cooking, or on a treadmill.

So what’s the hold-up, you may ask? That is a very good question. While it may have taken Apple two years to introduce Siri to Mac users, Microsoft has baked Cortana into Windows 10 from day one, and has been working on it, and testing it within the Windows 10 Insider Preview program, way before its official launch, more than a year ago and counting.

So, how cool would it be to control your Windows 10 laptop or tablet, with your voice, as well as you could using Windows Key shortcuts? Very. By this token we have tried to imagine what type of commands we could give Cortana, if Microsoft actually decided to bestow it with some of those good “Win+ magic powers”:

Task View

Task view is a nifty little feature that lets you create multiple virtual desktops to let you better organize application windows so that they won’t clutter up your workspace, or the taskbar.

Using Win+Tab will open Task View, which allows to create and manage virtual desktops using the mouse, or your fingertips, if you are using a touchscreen device like Microsoft Surface Pro 4.

How cool would it be to simply say: “Hey Cortana, create three new desktops!”, and voila! No clicking, no stomping on keys, easy as pie. How about switching from one desktop to the next, or to a particular one? “Hey Cortana, switch to desktop 3!”, or “Hey Cortana, switch to next desktop”, and pronto, you’re back galavanting the galaxy in No Man’s Sky, or... working on that boring spreadsheet.

Windows Snap

Who wouldn’t want to be able to organize application windows around the desktop just by telling it what to do? Win + Left / Right / Up / Down lets you easily move and snap applications around the desktop, quickly and easily, while Alt + Tab lends a helping hand by letting you cycle through each app.

That seems a bit too much work when you could simply tell Cortana to “Move Google Chrome to the top left of the screen”. Now, what would be really awesome, would be Cortana feeding back with “Where should i put RedditHub?”, to which, an appropriate response could be “To the left”. If that doesn’t make you feel like Tony Stark, nothing will.

Files management

Ok, we know. Voice commands+system commands = bad, but hey... that’s what group policies are for, right?

So here is the scenario: we have about 1000 vacation pictures to move to an external drive, and only 20 minutes to do it, while grilling a juicy steak. Rib-eye is a time-sensitive business, and overcooking it is a punishable offense in many households, so we can’t take our eyes off of it, so here is SuperCortana in action: “Hey Cortana, copy a folder on the C drive to the G drive”, to which Cortana will respond with “Which folder on the C drive?”, now, just as the steak is about to pass the threshold of medium-rare to well done, we’ll shout “vacation!”, followed by Cortana’s acknowledgement “Alright! Copying contents of vacation folder on C drive, to the G drive”. Steak done, files copied, let’s eat!

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