Microsoft just released a video in which Marcus Ash from the Windows team discusses the interesting history of Cortana and how the personal assistant comes to be in Windows 10. The Program Manager explains that it all started with the realization that search needed to be redefined, and that it's all about personal computing, a term that Microsoft used a lot at the January 2015 press conference to describe the future of Windows. Cortana is different from the competition because it learns about you and what you like, what you typically look for, and by using that it becomes more human-like, to take things off your plate. It is more than just a simple tool, it uses patterns to make predictions, and to help you multitask better.