As spotted by The Verge, Johnson Controls is planning a software update that will disable Microsoft’s helper entirely. Indeed, the tech giant is angling Cortana away from convenience and towards assistance. It never had the home-focused integrations of its competitors, and executives previously expressed regret at not getting into the smart speaker market earlier. As a result, it’s unlikely Microsoft will be too upset about this development. Currently, it’s looking to position Cortana as an enterprise helper, her functionality making its way into various software like a much smarter Clippy. At the same time, the tech giant has announced plans to remove Cortana from Xbox. Harmon Kardon’s Cortana smart speaker is also unavailable and she’ll soon be just an app in Windows.
