The extremely popular Short Message Service (SMS), or text messaging as it’s more commonly known, has been one of the most popular methods of instant communication since it became commonplace in the mid-1990s. In 2011 alone, which is when text messages numbers peaked, consumers in the United States sent more than 2 trillion SMS. That figure may now be in decline thanks to instant messaging tools like WhatsApp, but it’s still an extremely popular form of communication. It seems that Microsoft has recognized that importance, and will look to provide users with the functionality in Windows 10 to be able to send texts directly from a PC to a phone.
It doesn’t really need any official confirmation from Microsoft to provide a fairly decent indication that this type of feature will be coming to Windows 10 sooner rather than later. The recent preview release of Microsoft’s Messaging and Phone apps on Windows 10 show essentially the same apps (read Universal apps) that are found living within the company’s Windows 10 Mobile-powered devices, so it’s natural to assume that the same functionality lives within the desktop variants. Oh, and there’s also a new video which shows how a text can be invoked using Cortana; pretty concrete evidence.
The video shows us how the updated Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana that is ingrained within the latest insider preview of Windows 10 build 10565. This message is packaged up and received successfully on a Windows 10 Mobile-powered device. At the moment the whole process seems a little disjointed. The message can be sent from a computer running Windows 10 build 10565 but it will never be received on the phone until and unless the phone happens to be running the internal build 10549 of Windows 10 Mobile.
This is a demonstration of a beta feature that is currently being developed and worked on, so it’s natural to assume that currently the service is full of bugs. It does however provide Windows 10 fans with something to look forward to, with Microsoft hopefully planning on making this functionality available to public and across the board sooner rather than later. There are a still a few unanswered questions about the service, such as, will Cortana be a requirement for this feature? Most importantly, will the functionality eventually be introduced to all Windows 10-powered hardware, such as Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming console, or even Android and iOS devices running Cortana?
Check out the function in action, in the video below.
(Source: WinBeta)
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