Microsoft Agent

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Microsoft Agent was a technology developed by Microsoft that was supposed to make the computer easier to use through the use of characters and voice control and output . One generally speaks of a software agent here .

Microsoft Agent was released in 1997 and was preinstalled in Windows 98 through Windows Vista . Microsoft Agent has not been included since Windows 7 and is no longer supported by Microsoft. The last version is from 2003.

history

In an interview with the American television broadcaster G4 in 2013, Microsoft employee Alan Cooper described that Microsoft Agent was actually based on an incorrect interpretation of a study by Stanford University . This study found that using a mouse and keyboard activates the same areas of the brain that are responsible for emotional responses when dealing with people, which is why people often develop outbursts of anger against computers. Microsoft erroneously concluded that computers should behave in a similar way to humans in order to improve user-friendliness, and from this developed the concept of an agent who should communicate with the user.

The characters that were shipped with the Microsoft Bob program in 1995 are considered to be the earliest examples of using Microsoft Agent . These characters later appeared in Microsoft Office 97 and became known as the Office Assistant. The standard figure at that time was an animated paper clip, also known as Clippy or in German as Karl Klammer . Microsoft then further developed the technology so that it could also be used separately, and published a corresponding software development kit in 1997, but without actively promoting the concept, so that it largely eked a shadowy existence. In addition to four free downloadable characters ( Peedy , Merlin , Genie , Robby ), the SDK also made it possible to develop completely new characters. These could then be used in your own applications or integrated into websites via an ActiveX element. Microsoft Agent could be downloaded from the Microsoft website, but was also included in all Windows versions from 2000 / Me and in Microsoft Office from 2000.

With Windows 7, Microsoft gave up support for Microsoft Agent. For this operating system, Microsoft Agent can be installed separately for the last time, later versions do not support Microsoft Agent and the SDK is no longer offered.

Individual evidence

  1. Why People Yell at Their Computer Monitors and Hate Microsoft's Clippy on archive.org
  2. Mathias Schiffer: Microsoft Agents - Animated cartoon characters in action. In: MSDN.microsoft.com. Microsoft, November 28, 2005, accessed February 3, 2017 .
  3. Welcome to Microsoft Agent. In: Microsoft.com. Microsoft, May 1, 2009; archived from the original on July 9, 2009 ; accessed on February 3, 2017 (English).