‘Cortana, Open Alexa,’ Amazon Says. And Microsoft Agrees.<br />SEATTLE — The crowded pack of voice-controlled digital assistants — Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa<br />and Microsoft’s Cortana — are good at numerous things.<br />Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google and nearly every other big tech company is pouring huge amounts of money into making digital assistants<br />that are smarter and can do more, seeing them as a new way for people to interact naturally with devices and online services.<br />Someone working with an Alexa device will have to say “Alexa, Open Cortana” followed by their command,<br />while someone starting with a Cortana machine will have to say “Cortana, Open Alexa.”<br />The Amazon-Microsoft partnership started in May 2016, when Mr. Bezos raised the idea with Mr.<br />Nadella at Microsoft’s CEO Summit, an annual event for business leaders in the Seattle area.<br />In an interview last Friday at one of Amazon’s Seattle high-rises, Mr. Bezos predicted<br />that over time people would turn to different digital assistants — also called “A.
