Microsoft will provide users with the ability to communicate with the Amazon Alexa voice assistant.
Now this can be done without having to unlock the computer and launch a special application, as was previously required.
In January 2019, the head of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, actually admitted that the Cortana voice assistant they are developing is inferior to its competitors in everything and actually failed in the market. Despite the company's best efforts, its assistant managed to interest only 2% Windows users. For the foreseeable future, Cortana may disappear altogether from Windows 10 and be distributed as a standalone application. Microsoft does not intend to abandon this project yet, although its future looks already rather vague.
Against this background, it is not surprising that third-party voice assistants will get much more features. So, it became known about getting Amazon Alexa access to the lock screen. This will allow users to communicate with this assistant without having to wake up the computer, unlock it and launch a separate application. This will allow, for example, to learn about traffic jams, weather, stock prices, etc. Also, a computer with Windows 10 and Alexa can become a smart home control center.
The new feature will become available to all users in the fall, after the release of the next Windows update, which is scheduled for September. In the meantime, only members of the Windows Insider testing program can study it.