gdgt

I know Windows has some basic voice functionality, but it is rather poor relative to what is possible - and what is being done by others like Apple's Siri.
Examples, if Microsoft should use the name "Windry":

"Windry, record all episodes of Fringe."

"Windry, stop recording any programs with "hunters" in the title."

"Windry, create a new email to Joe Smith. Subject: Friday. Text: See you Friday at the party. I'm looking forward to it. Send."

"Windry, open my movie database. Add a new entry for, Fringe, Season 2, Blu-Ray. Save and close."

For all of these, the only training needed should be as to what file is intended by "my movie database," though the command might need to be modified depending on the actual program used. For Excel, one might need to say "add a new line" rather than "add a new entry." It needs to be smart enough to know that, by default, "line" means "row".

Now, will Windows 8 be able to do anything even approximating this?

Hey MWPollard. To answer your question alot of that is unknown currently. But I can assure you the fact that that functionality has been built into Kinect well before Siri every came about, shows that Microsoft has the technology and has been utilizing it in a mainstream product for well over two years.

You can virtually navigate any option on the Xbox 360 in the same way you stated above and have been able to since its release in November of 2010.

And the answer above you selected as correct also shows in those articles utilizing Kinect for that same functionality with Windows 8.