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The Secret Agent Man Microsoft’s New Animated Agent TechnologyBy Don Barker I've been assigned some pretty unsavory undercover operations in the past, but this one takes the cake. I've been ordered to expose the best agents in the business. My job is to reveal the names, faces, and secrets of these top operatives. Worse yet, my first targets are a group of likable chaps named Merlin, Genie, and Robby (See Exhibit 1).  Exhibit 1: Microsoft Agents
These friendly animated agent actors are designed to introduce, assist, and guide you. And, unlike me, they don't have to remain a stranger to everyone they meet. In fact, according to the Director of the Advanced User Interface Design Group at Microsoft, Tandy Trower, the mission of Microsoft Agent technology is to encourage social interaction between you and your computer. Trower explains that although "there are a number of people who are working on inference engines and other smart technologies, what is missing out of the picture is how we interact with these [intelligent agents]." (See the Sidebar Intelligence Report on Agents). Social interaction consists of the non-verbal visual cues we all use to communicate more effectively. They include everything from subtle gestures, such as grimacing and smiling, to overt body movements, like head scratching and arm waving. The importance of social interaction in human-computer interfaces has been recognized for some time (see brief history). In the fall of 1997, Microsoft Agent was released (downloadable free of charge), finally making it possible to easily integrate social interaction into user interfaces. Merlin, Robby, and Genie can appear in Web pages, displaying everything from simple idling activities, like nodding and yawning, to attention-grabbing motions, such as pointing and trumpet blowing. To accomplish this range of motions, Agent actors come with hundreds of pre-designed bit img easily controlled from any language that supports ActiveX technology, such as C, C++, Visual Basic, VBScript, JavaScript, and Java. Currently, Microsoft Agent runs on Internet Explorer (versions 3 or 4) and on Netscape Navigator 3 with the NCompass Plug-in. Curiously, it is unable to run Navigator 4, even with NCompass. However, this intrepid spy has discovered that both Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0 will support Microsoft Agent technology making this social interface accessible to almost anyone page (see the details for running Microsoft Agent). Microsoft Agent doesn't include the smart technologies you typically associate with intelligent agents. But Trower confirms that you "can easily marry [it] with any kind of inference engine or other smart technology. Microsoft is experimenting right now with some natural language technologies that interpret responses to queries from our animated characters. I have a prototype that uses data in Microsoft Sidewalk to answer queries such as 'Are there any French restaurants in Seattle?' We [also] have folks in research working on inference technology. They were actually part of the team who contributed to the inference capabilities in Office (i.e., the Office Assistant that looks like a perky paperclip)." Trower went on to reveal that "Agent is rapidly moving to become more of a [operating] system level component and other [smart technologies] are also moving to become an [operating] system component." These comments lead me to think that Microsoft's future technology will tightly integrate agents with other OS components. What can you do right now? Start taking a close and critical look at how Microsoft Agent can integrate with smart technologies to create social interaction in Web pages. I fully expect makers of shopping agents, chat bots, and virtual communities to adopt this technology early. You don't want to be left out in the cold when they do. This is release 007.01 signing off for now. I'll be back next time with more reports about agents and their once secret lives. In the meantime, be glad you don't have to live the life of danger where they give you a number and take away your name. by Don Barker |
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