In a new video, Microsoft CVP and Windows boss Pavan Davuluri has teased that the future of Windows will consist of a truly ambient and multi-modal experience made possible by AI that will redefine our usage of computers.
I think a lot of people are going to struggle getting their head around the idea of voice being a reliable, primary input method when using a PC, but with agentic AI and the ability for the OS to understand user intent and natural language, it’s going to feel a lot more natural than you might think.
You’re damn right we’re going to struggle. I won’t believe it is reliable enough to be anything but infuriating until I see it.
Ugh, not this voice control BS again. It’s like the people who pop up every once in a while asking why there isn’t a “natural English” programming language. It’s because human language is imprecise and full of nuance. To describe something to the precision needed for a computer to take action and actually do the thing you want it to do, you have to be so ridiculously verbose in your description that it would take 10-100x longer than just clicking a button with your mouse or typing a command on the keyboard.
Have none of these people ever sat behind someone operating a computer and tried to instruct them to do something even moderately complex? About 5 minutes in I’m usually tearing my hear out screaming “JUST LET ME SIT IN THE CHAIR AND DO IT MYSELF!”
I tried dictating a talk onto the computer in several ways recently. Not one piece of software was able to do it without me having to edit constantly. I haven’t seen anyone get voice input to the point where it isn’t a pain. I highly doubt Microsoft figured out reliable voice input but kept it back for Windows 12. It’s going to be the same shit.
I hate all MS Office products for their “smartness” already!
No Word, I chose those words and this spelling very precisely thank you very much.
And no PowerPoint, I would like to align these things with actual precision even between your auto-snap guides and kilometer-per-arrow-press positions…
You’re damn right we’re going to struggle. I won’t believe it is reliable enough to be anything but infuriating until I see it.
Ugh, not this voice control BS again. It’s like the people who pop up every once in a while asking why there isn’t a “natural English” programming language. It’s because human language is imprecise and full of nuance. To describe something to the precision needed for a computer to take action and actually do the thing you want it to do, you have to be so ridiculously verbose in your description that it would take 10-100x longer than just clicking a button with your mouse or typing a command on the keyboard.
Have none of these people ever sat behind someone operating a computer and tried to instruct them to do something even moderately complex? About 5 minutes in I’m usually tearing my hear out screaming “JUST LET ME SIT IN THE CHAIR AND DO IT MYSELF!”
I tried dictating a talk onto the computer in several ways recently. Not one piece of software was able to do it without me having to edit constantly. I haven’t seen anyone get voice input to the point where it isn’t a pain. I highly doubt Microsoft figured out reliable voice input but kept it back for Windows 12. It’s going to be the same shit.
I hate all MS Office products for their “smartness” already!
No Word, I chose those words and this spelling very precisely thank you very much. And no PowerPoint, I would like to align these things with actual precision even between your auto-snap guides and kilometer-per-arrow-press positions…