> But moreover, I can't help but be reminded of the movie Her. Where the lines between our physical reality and our digital reality start to blur

That's because it's a fallacy from the start. What happens on-line, what's digital, is as real as anything else. It's a mental dead end to think there are two separate things.

To me it's a particularly intriguing move because Cortana's story wasn't a happy one. I know that most of the people aware of that fact also won't be fazed by it (if you've played that much Halo, you can probably distinguish the assistant from the character), but it's a surprisingly deep choice to take a name from a character who faced AI decay and all kinds of other scary techno-ills.

The reference to Her is especially relevant, since in the Halo series Cortana was clearly designed for sex appeal, and romantic tension between Master Chief (the player character) and Cortana was strongly implied.

The beginning where he talks to Cortana, it totally reminded me of the movie Her. [1] It seemed fascinatingly real. Although that bit might have been pre-recorded, I think we will eventually get there, where a computer's voice and its interaction would seem indistinguishable from a human's.

[1] http://channel9.msdn.com/?wt.mc_id=build_hp [~1:12:50]

Apple began making Siri a character, but this takes it to another level. It's a brilliant UX play on Microsoft's part. Very cool.

Interesting, as well, that Microsoft wrote a love story between Cortana and Master Chief.

really? :D i have been wondering about that (still haven't checked any of the videos).

If so, am definitely getting a win phone next!