Windows 10 is unfinished. The core is there, but not everything works yet. It's kind of a beta and certainly a step down from Windows 7. Why get it? Because it's free now but only free for a year. After that I guess it's $199. If you don't absolutely have to have it, it might be better to wait a little while for them to bring it up to speed.
However, Windows 10 has one redeeming feature: Cortana. It's an artificial intelligence program kind of like Siri or Amazon's Alexa. I wish it was named something besides Cortana or that I could change the name. Now that the computer problems have settled down, I activated the program. I have a lapel mic I bought a while back to make YouTube videos with. I use that to talk to it, although I may get a cheap desktop mic.
I asked it, What's your favorite color? It said, Right now, it's coffee. With Cream.
I asked it if it likes cats.
It's not so much what it said but how it said it Same thing on the coffee answer. Microsoft used a voice actress for the voice. So far, it tends to be emotionally neutral unless you ask it something silly. Then it has some personality and a sense of humor.
To use it, I have to say, "Hey, Cortana," followed by a command. I imagine that could get old after a while. I think people with Amazon Echo just say Alexa and the command.
I've barely started using it, but I like it. I have it open programs for me. It's faster than digging through the Start menus trying to find Calculator or Windows Update. That thing buried in Control Panel you need? It can find it and tell you the formal name of it. It opens the programs in the background. If I have my word processor open and want to search for something, I can say it, and it's out of sight until I need it.
I use it to go to web sites instead of typing in the address. It does web searches, too. It's pretty good about understanding me. A few times I've gotten in a hurry and mangled the pronunciation of a word. When I've done that, it knew what I meant anyway. From the context, I suppose, which is a nice level of sophistication. The only problem with searching is it uses Bing instead of Google. Sometimes that's okay, but Google is so much better.
I tried to make it go to duolingo.com. It sent me to eidos.com the first time. When you talk to it, it shows you at the bottom of the Cortana window what it thinks you've said. When I said duolingo, it showed duolingo but sent me to the other site instead. The next time it got it right. That was after I went there manually. I don't know if it "learned" from me or not. It's supposed to do that and become more tailored to you over time.
I don't use the Reminders feature in Windows. Cortana makes it easy. As a test, I set a reminder yesterday to watch the Georgia Tech game. They won. You're supposed to replace your toothbrush every three months, but three months later I usually don't remember it exactly on the date. I just got a new one. Cortana made me a reminder for December 1 to buy a new toothbrush. :)
There's a Cortana phone app. Something I'm interested in is using it to turn lights off and on. During the winter when it's dark, it would be neat to tell it to turn on the lights when I get home. It's supposed to learn your schedule and do things like that for you.
I guess I'm kind of rambling. Except for the name, I'm liking Cortana. I can't wait to see what features they add to it. There's a Messengers book set in the future about the time Kayley went to to save the miners. In that book everyone has a personal AI. They say its name and give it commands. Cortana's like a primitive version of that. That book has some spoilers about Aethan Lightbringer, so it'll have to come out later. Plus, it's not finished.
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