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.

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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.