Microsoft's Cortana virtual assistant made its debut in Windows Phone 8.1, and has evolved quite a bit since then. Ever since Windows 10 launched, it's been included in Windows Search in the taskbar. This idea hasn't been a big hit with some users though, and according to a new report from Windows Central, Microsoft is finally doing something about it.
Cortana will be removed from Windows Search, and it will move to a new home in the Action Center. Not only that, but to make room for the digital assistant, Quick Actions will be moved to a dedicated Control Center, which is something that we learned about back in May.
Inside of the Action Center, there will be a "chat-based UI" for Cortana, which should allow for more fluid interactions with the virtual assistant. This will also allow users to interact with Cortana in the same place where its notifications appear, seemingly enhancing the experience.
And of course, it also frees up Windows Search to do other things. We learned back in November that Microsoft is preparing a new search experience that's more similar to Apple's Spotlight Search. In fact, you can try that out right now with a couple of Registry tweaks.
Naturally, we'll have to wait and see if this change makes it into a public version of Windows 10, as Insiders will surely have some opinions about it. After all, the search bar is a main point of interaction with the Windows UI, and it seems likely that if Cortana usage drops off after implementing this, it won't last long.
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