Poll Technica: Would you use Siri on OS X?

Although Siri has its quirks, I do find it remarkable what does work with Siri.

Arguing that Siri would be useless on a desktop because one already has a keyboard is a hollow argument. Siri provides a different interface that abstracts away complex tasks or ones involving multiple steps so that they can be executed in a single query or command.

On a smartphone, that typically involves identifying and launching an app, running a search of some type and then filtering those search results.

When you say "Call John Doe" you are doing the equivalent of launching the Contacts app (alternatively, the Phone app and then the history tab) scrolling through the list of contacts, selecting John Doe and then filtering the option of call vs text.

When you ask "What delivers?", Siri is intelligent enough to figure out that:
a. you want food
b. Siri needs to know you current location
c. A search needs to be run, finding restaurants in a given proximity to your location and then filtering those by which ones offer delivery services.

If I were to conduct the second example manually, I would typically have to launch Yelp or UrbanSpoon and navigate through several screens of information and sometimes use a separate map app in conjunction as Yelp's internal map interface leaves a lot to be desired. It's a lot of busy work that Siri effectively eliminates for me.

Having that on a desktop would be a boon to those who would take advantage of it. Most problems I've found with Siri can be rectified by better enunciation (I make sure to clearly sound out each syllable with similar emphasis) and taking a moment to think of how best to phrase the question beforehand. Siri can handle remarkably complex questions at times, so long as the grammar is something than can be logically parsed without ambiguity (the English language seems to have several self-defeating mechanisms in place in regards to being unambiguous).

Although Siri has its quirks, I do find it remarkable what does work with Siri.

Arguing that Siri would be useless on a desktop because one already has a keyboard is a hollow argument. Siri provides a different interface that abstracts away complex tasks or ones involving multiple steps so that they can be executed in a single query or command.

On a smartphone, that typically involves identifying and launching an app, running a search of some type and then filtering those search results.

When you say "Call John Doe" you are doing the equivalent of launching the Contacts app (alternatively, the Phone app and then the history tab) scrolling through the list of contacts, selecting John Doe and then filtering the option of call vs text.

When you ask "What delivers?", Siri is intelligent enough to figure out that:
a. you want food
b. Siri needs to know you current location
c. A search needs to be run, finding restaurants in a given proximity to your location and then filtering those by which ones offer delivery services.

If I were to conduct the second example manually, I would typically have to launch Yelp or UrbanSpoon and navigate through several screens of information and sometimes use a separate map app in conjunction as Yelp's internal map interface leaves a lot to be desired. It's a lot of busy work that Siri effectively eliminates for me.

Having that on a desktop would be a boon to those who would take advantage of it. Most problems I've found with Siri can be rectified by better enunciation (I make sure to clearly sound out each syllable with similar emphasis) and taking a moment to think of how best to phrase the question beforehand. Siri can handle remarkably complex questions at times, so long as the grammar is something than can be logically parsed without ambiguity (the English language seems to have several self-defeating mechanisms in place in regards to being unambiguous).