Microsoft Research Peter Lee talks about Windows 9, making companies productive and smarter

We are all well aware that Microsoft is working on the next version of Windows. We learned recently that Windows 9 might be cloud-based, compared to what we have now. We’re beginning to learn just a bit more on what Windows 9 could feature.

Peter Lee, head of Microsoft Research, in an interview with Jeremy Kaplan over at DigitalTrends, hinted on what we can expect from Windows 9. “Using machine learning to extract relationships, entities, key ideas being worked on and bring those to the surface in tools. Maybe even digital-assistant tools to make companies more productive and smarter. That’s one area we’re going at” for Windows 9, Lee said.

So what exactly does that mean? Lee wasn’t clear, but it sounds like he is referring to the cloud and Bing technology being the backend to the operating system. Talk about the operating system becoming smarter!

“If I write a document and I want to say, share this with the appropriate people that work with Vikram from the meeting, or say, ‘what’s trending around me at work,’ not in my personal space but at work … answering questions like that requires a very different kind of machine learning,” Lee added.

If anyone remembers Microsoft’s Satya Nadella’s first interview as CEO, he said “Going forward, it’s a mobile first, cloud first world.” Lee hinted that currently Windows OS doesn’t rely on cloud computing, but that may soon change in Windows 9.

Lee also spoke about Cortana during his interview, and mentioned that Cortana is becoming smarter and ‘a bit more human’ in her responses every day thanks to continuous improvement.