Microsoft boosts the IQ of its Bing desktop search tool for Windows 8

Just as Microsoft has been smartening up its mobile experience with the Cortana virtual assistant, it’s now making the underlying Windows 8 operating system more intuitive.

Today the tech giant said it has improved the operating system’s Bing-powered search function. The new search engine will bring up the right features even when people don’t type in their proper names.

And even if you don’t spell things correctly, Microsoft will have you covered. The search box will account for typical spelling mistakes, according to a blog post on the move.

Other web companies, like Facebook and Google, have been adding natural-language savvy to their applications in the past couple of years. Even business-intelligence startups like DataRPM are trying to make their tools easier for non-technical people to use by adding natural-language understanding.

Microsoft has bolstered other applications with natural-language sweetness in the past: Consider recent updates to Power BI for Office 365 and Xbox One. Now the company’s focus on natural-language tech appears to be touching more and more properties.

And that accords with the “One Microsoft” strategy the company revealed last year.