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Microsoft is taking another stab at Bob. But this time it's letting developers do the work via Microsoft Agent, a software kit that creates customized, interactive assistants to help guide users through Web pages and applications.
Introduced in March 1995, Bob was a friendly alternative to Windows, designed to bring computer novices into the Microsoft fold. The easygoing operating system's hallmark was a cadre of animated agents that would guide users around their computers, dispensing help and tips as needed. As it turns out, no one actually wanted advice from a pixelated sprite and Microsoft euthanized Bob a year after its arrival.
But that was then and this is the Web.
A few of the sample characters in Microsoft Agent include a genie, a wizard, and a robot, all of which exhibit the friendly, supportive, and polite personalities that Microsoft recommends. The ActiveX-based animations can include speech-recognition capabilities and responses in synthesized speech, recorded audio, or balloon text, as well as keyboard and mouse commands.
The documentation even offers advice - citing academic research - on how to design agents with appropriate, human-oriented behaviors: "Praise has a greater impact when it comes from males, because masculine personalities also tend to be considered to have stronger influence and be more persuasive than feminine personalities." Other categories include "create a team player," "be polite," and "be non-exclusive."
Microsoft Agent is available for download from the Microsoft Web site.
