Microsoft appears to be making headway into the Smart Home market announcing a partnership with Johnson Controls to build a smart home thermostat. They will be using Windows10 IoT Core and Cortana on the Azure cloud service on the software side.  On the hardware side they will be using a very cool translucent glass touchscreen display that lets you alter room temperatures, check energy usage and air quality, and see calendar information.

Heating and cooling account for roughly 48% of the energy use in a typical U.S. home, making it the largest energy expense for most families. In the commercial building sector, the cost is approximately 40%. Johnson Controls, one of the leading providers of HVAC, Fire and Security systems in the world, is changing how spaces are viewed and controlled. As the inventors of the first thermostat, Johnson Controls has innovated once again with GLAS.

Utilizing Windows 10 IoT Core, Cortana voice services, and Azure Cloud, GLAS is a simple to use, elegant thermostat that brings leading energy savings and air quality monitoring to everyday spaces. Johnson Controls is reinventing the thermostat and our lives.

There's no launch date yet but visually this is one of the most elegant pieces of smart home technology I've seen - looking forward to what else Microsoft can bring to the market going forward.