Microsoft Removes Cortana From Skype and Adds Alexa Instead

Microsoft added a Cortana feature for Skype in 2017 and allowed her to monitor the user’s chats and add dates to the user’s calendar as they chatted with their contacts.

And, in spite of having integrated Cortana onto Windows 10, Microsoft decided that its voice assistant didn’t stand a chance against the more popular Alexa. The company has finally decided to put the Cortana Skype feature to rest and integrate Amazon’s Alexa instead.

But Alexa won’t be added to their Skype account automatically: if the users want to grab the Alexa integration, they will have to install the Alexa app separately and then connect it to their account. Microsoft is even adding 200 free Skype minutes to the accounts of the users who switch to Alexa.

While this would not necessarily mean that Microsoft is completely giving up on Cortana, the company did place the search bar and Cortana into two separate entities on its recent Windows 10 preview build Build 18317 (19H1), which had been rolled out back in January to testers.

The Skype users who have used Cortana so far are currently receiving notifications that let them know the voice assistant will be removed as of April 30th.

If Cortana will survive Windows, that remains to be seen. As far as Skype’s Alexa integration, it has now become available in the U.S, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain.