The Cortana team answers your top questions about international expansion, Jen Taylor and more

Marcus Ash and Sandeep Paruchuri reply to your Cortana questions

A few days ago, we presented a rare opportunity to ask the Cortana team – represented by Marcus Ash and Sandeep Paruchuri – direct questions about Cortana'due south international rollout (Alpha and Beta programs), and the process therein.

After the big announcement in China about Cortana's expansion, the squad managed to squeeze fourth dimension in to pick some of your top questions and provide us the answers tardily last night. Therefore, without further ado, here is the Cortana team answering your best questions.

If you want insight into the differences betwixt Alpha and Beta Cortana, or why Jen Taylor is not coming to the UK, then you must read on, you practise not want to miss this!

Nosotros're really excited near bringing Cortana Beta to China and the U.k., and the availability of an "English Blastoff" in Canada, India, and Australia. Information technology's so important to have a customs like you, excited almost what nosotros've washed, simply keeping the states honest well-nigh what we could be doing better. Supporting the Blastoff markets wasn't something we had planned to do from the first, but we started hearing "Why not other English countries?" and took a closer look. Of course, shipping Alpha doesn't mean we're done, merely we wanted to unlock some of Cortana'southward potential earlier we can become to a Beta quality level and to enable our enthusiasts to aid u.s. build a better Cortana when the fourth dimension comes. Every time you lot use the Alpha, you'll be helping u.s. make it better for Beta. – Marcus Ash and Sandeep Paruchuri, Microsoft

Q: What is "Alpha"? What should I expect?

A: Our Blastoff is composed of assets we had available to us at Microsoft. We repurposed our existing speech models for the US and Great Uk, which we've institute to be quite successful – even with accents. Additionally, we leveraged the existing Bing Knowledge Graph in these regions to enable some of Cortana'south defining scenarios. That said, not everything is going to be keen or be available in the Blastoff, and we're OK with that. Nosotros promise you are too. This is an experiment in listening to your needs and trying to answer in a rapid manner. Nosotros recall yous'll bask the Alpha and help enable a great Beta in the procedure.

Q: Why not Beta?

A: When nosotros launch a Beta, as you've seen from the United states of america, and at present the U.k. and China, it not simply means lighting up our entire Cortana feature set, but as well taking a difficult look at the market and saying, "This is what our users in _____ want from their personal banana." Without doing that exercise, we'd hesitate to say that we're "fix to go" in a given marketplace. Nosotros remember Alpha is a good stepping stone towards enabling existing scenarios, but you can expect a closer look from our teams as nosotros bring markets to Beta.

Q: Why isn't Cortana bachelor everywhere? Why not allow every region choose US English equally their linguistic communication and enable Cortana globally?

A: Cortana is equal parts language agreement, data availability, and holistic service availability. Nosotros targeted three markets with existing infrastructure and sufficient data availability. We've too added 3 markets in "blastoff" and we hope to be able to expand this arroyo in future markets and languages.

Q: Why should I employ English Alpha over the US version?

A: Alpha allows users in these markets to keep their phones in the proper region and UI settings. This means that some of the basics, such as number formatting, volition work every bit expected alongside your Cortana. Additionally, the more you use her, especially spoken communication, the greater quality nosotros tin have when we go to Beta in these markets.

Q: When will it be a Beta?

A: When it'south ready. :)

Q: So it seems similar y'all chose a unlike voice actor in the UK and Red china. Why aren't you using Jen Taylor (Cortana) globally?

A: In order to ship a culturally relevant personal assistant, nosotros recollect information technology's important that the banana speaks with an emphasis similar to the users in the target geography. For instance, in the United kingdom we would want the personal assistant to speak with a British accent and in other future countries we might hope for the aforementioned. The purpose of this philosophy is to deliver on our client promise to provide the virtually personal banana that scales to different languages and cultures.

Q: Why is Cortana'south accent and voice linked to a specific region? Why can't I choose?

A: While Cortana'south vocalization may seem different from the balance of her intelligence, there are unique challenges if y'all try to divide them. For example, only between U.s.a. English language and UK English, many words will exist spelled differently (recall "Favorite" vs "Favourite"). Our Us English vox expects a corresponding spelling, and may read back something that sounds "wrong". Similarly, in that location are words with identical spelling only different pronunciations, hinging on the cultural expectation. That said, this is cracking feedback and is something nosotros'll consider in futurity releases.

Q: Will Cortana'southward voice always be localized to the market? How volition she audio in _______?

A: We want to provide a cultural relevant voice and personality for Cortana every bit we expand. This is going to be very of import every bit Cortana learns to speak new languages. We volition look at each marketplace every bit a unique case to evaluate.

Q: What was the hardest role of bringing Cortana to her first international markets?

A: Making the new work to make Cortana feel like a native of her new country happen while continuing tuning, improvements, and expansion of the US production. We started working on the UK and China in parallel as we were finishing the US, which was extremely challenging since the Usa model needed a lot of tuning and is still evolving today. In addition to trying to keep upwards with the changing US models, nosotros had to practice new vocalization recordings over many months and add features that would brand Cortana feel like she is a native of the new countries. For instance, nosotros knew that a more expressive shape was of import for China. We had not idea virtually this for the US, then we had to update our blitheness system and go figure out a brand new design for Mian Tuan inside a few months.

Q: I have feedback or questions beyond the above

A: We are really looking for input and feedback from you lot, our community. Nosotros encourage you to give the Alpha feel a spin when Programmer Preview for Windows Phone 8.1 Update hits and to share your feedback on cortana.uservoice.com. Additionally, nosotros're happy to field questions via twitter- try @sp990 (Sandeep), @mikecalcagno (Mike) or @marcusash (Marcus). Yous're also welcome to let Joe (@joebelfiore) know what you call back of the idea. :)

Editor's Note: A big thanks to Marcus Ash and Sandeep Paruchuri for taking the time to have these questions!

Xbox Insiders Update

This huge Xbox 'Quick Resume' update will give gamers more control

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/exclusive-cortana-team-answers-your-top-questions

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