Microsoft's Home Hub aims to turn the PC into an Amazon Echo

It has been rumored for some time that Microsoft wants to join the smart home speaker space with a device called Home Hub.

A new report has a lot more details, and while it still sounds like a competitor to Amazon's smart speaker Echo and Google Home, it's different in one key detail: it's software, not hardware.

According to Windows Central, which quotes multiple unnamed sources, Home Hub is a software update for Windows 10 that will make the Windows PC a bit more like a smart speaker.

What Home Hub would do

Microsoft's smart digital assistant Cortana can already answer your queries, even if the PC's screen is locked. The Home Hub is tied to Cortana and takes this a few steps further. It would add a special app with features such as calendar appointments, sticky notes and shopping lists.

A Home Hub-enabled PC might have a Welcome Screen, a full-screen app that displays all these, like a virtual fridge door.

Multiple users (i.e. family members) could use the Home Hub, either by authenticating through Windows Hello or by working in a family-shared account.

Making your home smarter

Cortana would get more powerful on Home Hub; it could, for example, control smart home devices, such as lights and locks.

And even though all of this will work on any Windows 10 device -- potentially making the PC the center of your smart home experience -- third-party manufacturers will be able to build devices that work with Home Hub.

Windows Central's report is massive, and there's a lot of speculation in it; the site warns that none of this is official and individual features could change over time.

If everything goes as planned, however, Home Hub should arrive across several Windows updates in 2017.