The question of whether or not Cortana will ever make it beyond Windows devices doesn’t have a clear answer, but it turns out Microsoft’s lack of action isn’t enough for some people. Some intrepid hackers have taken it upon themselves to take the Halo-inspired digital assistant and port it over to Android devices.
The port was shown off at Droidcon 215 by its developers, a hacking group known as OrangeSec, and proved that it could do many of the same things as the Windows Phone version. The only real downside is that Portaña, as it’s being called, can only speak and understand Italian.
But the real achievement isn’t the port, it’s that Portaña can actually access Microsoft’s services. Unfortunately to do so it requires a hardware proxy, custom SSL certificates, and DNS spoofing. That means you’d have to really want Cortana instead of Google Now to make it worthwhile.
But it’s not like you’re going to be able to get the chance; OrangeSec devised the port as a proof of concept and have no intention of releasing it into the world. It’s a shame really, but it just goes to show that Microsoft could bring Cortana to other platforms if it felt like it. [Geek via Ubergizmo]
