Why Cortana won’t be at Microsoft Build

You’re not going to hear anything about Cortana this week at Microsoft’s Build conference.  

Confused? You’re not alone. Microsoft Cortana has moved from becoming the flagship feature at the Windows 10 launch to something of a has-been. And yet the intelligence that powers her is something that’s become a priority for Microsoft, creating the impression that there’s Cortana, and then there’s AI, and the two are separate and distinct. 

There’s a similar gap between the reason that Cortana is absent from Build, and separate underlying issues with Cortana itself. Put simply, it’s a bit of a mess.

Mark Hachman / IDG