Microsoft Teams will soon push one of the worst Windows 11 features down your throat
Cortana is coming to Microsoft Teams Rooms
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Although Cortana may bedead on mobile,Microsoft’s digital assistant is alive and well onWindows 11and will soon be making an appearance inMicrosoft Teams.
WhileCortanawas first introduced in 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox, the smart artificial intelligence construct eventually came to Windows Phone andWindows 10PCs in 2014 as a digital assistant.
Just like withGoogleAssistant,AmazonAlexa andApple’s Siri, Microsoft created Cortana to help Windows users set reminders, search the web and more.
Now though, according to a series of new posts on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the software giant is bringing Cortana toMicrosoft Teams Rooms. With Microsoft Teams Rooms, businesses can configure a meeting room with a number of devices including displays,webcamsand microphones so that an organization can usevideo conferencing softwaretogether as a group as opposed to having to use their own laptops.
Cortana is coming to Microsoft Teams Rooms
In thefirst updateto the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Microsoft explained that “Cortana voice activation will be enabled by default on newly imaged Microsoft Teams Rooms solutions” beginning this month.
This means that Teams users will be able to shout out voice commands to their Teams Rooms devices to start a video call, change settings and more. Fortunately though, IT admins will be able to adjust this setting to disable voice activation. At the same time, Microsoft has updated the Cortana iconography that appears on the front of a room display and in the console UI in a Microsoft Teams Room according to thesecond update.
Finally in thethird update, the company explained that Cortana will support additional languages on Teams devices that are set to different locale languages. Currently American English, Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English and British English are supported.
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While voice activation can certainly be useful in shared meeting rooms designed for video conferencing, business users may not be too keen on having a character from a video game speaking up during their all-hands meetings.
Also check out our roundups of thebest business webcams,best headsets for conference callsandbest video conferencing software
After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
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