Halo, can you hear me now?

Did you hear that?  That was the sound of two worlds colliding.  

 
Microsoft has made no apologies for the fact that, although late to the mobile and tablet game, they are heavily invested in being a top contender in the marketplace.   They bought Nokia.  They designed a mobile interface that is instantly recognizable and yet drastically different from all the competition.  They’ve integrated that new mobile operating system into the PC world and are slowly converting the laptop and desktop world to a touchscreen experience.  Hi, welcome to Windows 8.

Therefore it should be no surprise that when it came to featuring a verbal virtual assistant like Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Voice that Microsoft would soon be offering their own digital genie, coming soon to both the Windows 8.1 platform and Windows mobile devices.

What is surprising is that that they went gamer chic.  Cortana (as many of you may know) is the artificial sentience that is bound to Master Chief in the Halo series.  Halo is the biggest Microsoft exclusive gaming franchise on each of the previous XBOX platforms.  As a gamer, Cortana is the voice that has been at your side for a hundred hours of gameplay.  She is your guide, your confidant, your advisor, your best friend.  You are willing to risk it all for her, and now she has become one step closer to being real.
 

Not long ago I had the opportunity to drive a Ford Focus, powered by Microsoft SYNC.  I was impressed by how easily it integrated with my devices.  At the same time, I was also using a Garmin GPS.  It was amusing to listen as audio feedback came from SYNC and Garmin systems for various tasks . . . because they used the SAME voice.  It seems as though that voice has become the default, the universally accepted voice of professional devices. But now that will change.
 

When you speak of Microsoft, many think of corporate big business.  Microsoft makes the majority of their revenue from enterprise software and services.  That being the case, you might ask why would the name and the voice of Microsoft’s newest venture be that of a video game character?
 

The answer is … because it’s awesome.
 

It is a great idea.   And not just because Microsoft own the rights to the character, but because to gamers that name and voice carry the expectation of something far greater than Google Voice and Siri.  We want to suspend disbelief for something more like a true artificial intelligence experience: just like Cortana herself.  No promises have been made yet, but I want to believe.

This could be Microsoft’s killer app, arming millions of potential Master Chiefs.

Ready and reporting for duty.