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From...
Coming soon to a Web site near you: Animated, interactive critters
Microsoft Agent 2.0 lets developers add animated characters to Web sites and applications.
October 14, 1998
Web posted at: 7:46 PM PT
by James A. Martin
(IDG) -- Coming soon to a computer screen near you: a genie, a parrot, and other characters that can talk as well as listen.
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Microsoft has delivered Microsoft Agent 2.0, an upgrade to a technology that enables developers to add interactive animated characters to Web sites and applications. (To see one example, check out the Surf Monkey link below.)
Chief among Agent 2.0's new features is its support for speech input and output. Based on Microsoft's Speech API, developers can add agents to software and Web sites that can take verbal commands as well as speak. Several speech technology vendors, including Dragon Systems, IBM, and Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, have announced plans to provide speech engines to support interactive characters created with Agent 2.0.
Agent 2.0 also promises faster performance, tighter integration with an application's interface, a smaller footprint, better sound effects, and increased support for international users. Developers can add Microsoft's stock of interactive characters -- a robot, a genie, a magician, and a new entry, Peedy the parrot -- to their programs. Developers can also create their own animated characters.
The Agent technology has its ignominious beginnings in Microsoft Bob, the unsuccessful Windows shell featuring animated characters designed to demystify computers for novice users. The technology is offered via a free download from the company's Web site; distributing Agents also is free.