Microsoft Agent Follow Up: Feedback Requested
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Jason Grieves [MSFT]
If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this thread
if you are willing.
1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
software that uses MS Agent?
2. How many active users use your software?
3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in your
current release?
4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
software for Windows 7?
Thanks for your feedback!
Abhishek
update the Agent redist.
Thanks!
"Jason Grieves [MSFT]" <jasong...@live.com> wrote in message
news:D9B64095-9AB1-4306...@microsoft.com...
Remy Lebeau
"Jason Grieves [MSFT]" <jasong...@live.com> wrote in message
news:D9B64095-9AB1-4306...@microsoft.com...
> Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that
> describes your software that uses MS Agent?
> Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent
> website in your current release?
Not directly, though one of my apps (Agent Clipboard Reader) was updated to
allow the user to specify the Language that MSAgent should use. That was
before MSAgent was updated for Vista/SAPI5 to disable MSAgent's Language
features, though.
> Are you running your software on Windows Vista?
No, though I did start updating ACR to support MSAgent's SAPI5 features,
which only work on Vista and later.
> Are you targeting your software for Windows 7?
Not at this time.
--
Remy Lebeau (TeamB)
blaze young
wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this thread
> if you are willing.
>
> 1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
> software that uses MS Agent?
http://www.planetoftheheads.com/ ... I developed a collection of 100
msagent characters for the purpose of use with other applications.
There's a small tool there called 'HeadScript' that allows people to
use the characters to make their own scripts. I have other plans for
the technology.
> 2. How many active users use your software?
I don't know, I don't spy on the sites or the people who use them. But
I've received thousands of emails.
> 3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in your
> current release?
I use MS Agent in the forms where it is available, and I'm still
perturbed with Microsoft for defuncting the ACF format, screwing up
the speech synthesizer, and generally killing the only good thing they
ever did. I should be your boss. You're fired.
> 4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
> software for Windows 7?
Software runs on Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Vista.
I will target Windows 7 if Agent is not deleted or destroyed. I don't
think you are smart enough or influential enough to make that happen.
I think you are lazy and stupid to not include this as part of the OS
forever.
I also think I won't bother buying Windows 7 if MS Agent support
doesn't come with it standard, and with a working speech engine, and
I'll move everything over to Linux and just keep Windows stuff running
on virtual machines. You folks have done a great job of killing a good
product concept, and you won't see another cent from me. Ever. Also,
make sure to clean up all of your things on the way out, or I'm
calling security. Yes, I'm serious. You're fired. Get going. Move it.
NOW.
>
> Thanks for your feedback!
Thanks for turning the efforts of everyone who supported this
community into nothingness through what I can only deem to be
lethargy, sloth, and a lack of vision. Because Microsoft certainly has
the budget, the programmers, and the capability to upgrade it. You
simply have chosen to suck.
If you are not going to support this technology, and you're going to
abolish it to antiquity, you should release the source to the
animation decoding algos for ACF and ACS so people can take their
characters out and migrate it to something else. Open source the whole
thing.
You're doing a horrible job.
Scott T
I'm in a little crunch to at the moment, but I'll try to spruce up nice
examples of the
various ways that I and others have and contunue to use MSAgent.
Well, I'll make this post a drop target today, and I'll dump whatever
comes to mind
as I try to unwind a decade of heavy MSAgent use.
I don't want to try to figure out what to do instead of use MSAgent.
I'm philosophically
addicted to it, I think. It has served in many capacities for me, and
I'd be a little lost
without it to point to or use to demo UI/usability/interactivity
designs.
I have been programming for twenty-five years, 99.9% of that time as my
own study
program. One of my insatiable hobbies. With MSAgent and IE3/4/5/WSH,
everything
necessary was there, setting standards before they were standards,
flooding a student's
OS with a flood of new capabilities, any of which could be scripted, and
therefore available for an extremely
flexible, multimodal, interactive system that was a perfectly legitimate
platform and
a sufficiently flexible interface to be able to develop the most
transparent interactivity
as could be expected within a VERY MODEST minimum system, of like, what,
16MB
of RAM? that is freaking tight.
The life cycle of MSAgent should match the life cycle of AI, and
accessibility, and human
interface development. If, for no other reason, it is a cogent
interface for debugging
various AI/Agent type systems.
Anyway, whole world is blowing up at the moment. So releasing some
stuff as proof of
what is in the pipeline, I'll rummage around and see what I find that
still works.
...
OK, This is not even close to even really a beta, just the only working
version I can find, which
is years old, but is still working. this was completely a debug version
until I could get everything
playing together. Newer version is encrypted, every user has own custom
character tile,
and the interface is considerably different, as is the xml data
structures I use on the server.
http://codesuper.com/arena/ -- login with whatever you like. pass
protects username only.
I'll leave it up, but it is not for popular consumption. None of the
messages are encrypted
or scrubbed for TTS issues. etc.
I have worked on and off over the years presenting accessible interfaces
to classic books.
Here's probably the most classic of them all:
I have Peedy, Merlin, Genie, and featuring Robby as the slave boy doing
Meno
somewhere. Somebody did Shakespeare.
To me, anytyhing to promote the classics and a true liberal arts
education is good
stuff. Can't stress the value of MSAgent in educational settings.
Here's something I did more recently, freshening the Agent code in the
meantime.
It was a test-run of my rapid-prototyping framework. It took me a lazy
day to develop
the entirety of this application, including all the MSAgent characters
used.
WARNING!!!!!!!!:
add codesuper.com to your trusted sites zone unless you want to click on
52 dialogs to
load ACF characters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REPEAT:
ADD *.CODESUPER.COM to TRUSTED SITES BEFORE YOU TRY THIS!
Yeah, once ought to be enough, and I hereby officially request that
change. I agree with
the security dialog, but it should only be thrown once per page/domain.
Also, it's not on an https address, so you'll have to uncheck the
checkbox in your settings.
It's solitaire: http://codesuper.com/sol/
I needed to press msagent beyond what it is normally accomplishing in my
normal use.
I was VERY pleased with MSAgent's ability to handle this task. The
cards were
stand-ins for a contacts/favorites/etc list, where one manages one's
social and trust
networks by brokering the relationships through an interactive software
agent, simultaneously
having the quick access to a persons default channel without needing to
remember what
site or application or email someone that I wanted to stay in touch with
used.
I have been using MSAgent for a totally personalized social network
interface.
A system where users may specify their preferred channels of
communication for various
modalities, people, groups, sites, etc.
And that one's social network channels like twit and my$pace are
extrapolated to the same
framework. These sorts of relationships end up being a lot more
important the PEOPLE
than they do to CORPORATIONS.
Tyrannist workplace data-slave sorts of setups like businesses tend to
prefer are of no
interest to me, so I guess MSAgent was always my hedge against the
tyranny of whatever
slave construct that a business may wish to develop in their arena.
I want to empower the user, in spite or in coordination with
institutional policies/data/etc.
IOW, there's not much money in it at this point, and MSAgent goes
completely contrary
to the institutional structures, but is firmly within the coordination
camp, see:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html
Everything is a "tile" and a tile serves as agent between humans and
their computers. I
had always hoped that MSAgent was somehow tied to all the maze of
settings and
permissions that are represented by the Internet Options dialog.
Privacy settings,
etc, in plain enough to provide a good dialog between agent and issues
of trust.
This same framework also applies to semantic web, and having this
interface seems
to make a lot of sense with the web of trust and folksnonomies and mind
mapping
and all sorts of coordination.
All of these very individualized and important sorts of settings demand
a highly interactive
interface, some sort of better interface for the stupid flashing
security bar in IE that
tells you squat.
I always assumed that MSAgent was actually part of MS's grand master
plan for all
that sort of stuff.
How else could the totally novice, blind, lazy or illiterate user work
out these complex issues?
20 questions, basically. Or rather, Q and A, dialectic sort of
tree-navigator. Choose your
own adventure, etc.
The internet is finally catching up with MSAgent, don't quit now, when
the whole lid is about
ready to get ripped off the thing.
People have gotten discouraged with apps that use MSAgent because they
wanted them to be
more intelligent than they were. More interactive, more of a lot of
stuff that is a lot to put
on the plate of any programmer.
So that part is as anti-climactic as AI has always been.
How about implementing MSAgent as a default behavior in IE? I am not
too concerned
with much but that there is a way to continue within IE framework. It
sorta seems like
an accessibility sort of thing. Also, it seems like Opera and fox and
such are only now
beginning to add voice and vector graphics and smil as part of default
install of those
browsers.
So not being part of Win 7 install would not suck so hard if it was just
part of IE.
I never wanted to mess with distro at all, not minding the just-in-time
sort of <OBJECT
tag install. That's how it was from beginning. But not needing to HOST
that was very
important to me in my programming endeavors, because I could rapidly
prototype and
distribute small files for testing.
I haven't been able to look at IE8 yet. There must be a set of features
available in IE8
that are not used as often as might be, because the standards are still
evolving at W3C,
or are not the
I would put MSAgent there. There are numerous killer apps for Agent
that haven't been
released yet, and others that haven't been developed.
My surreal job is the stage. If you've never heard a stage manager
calling cues on a broadway-
sized musical, then it may be hard to appreciate, but in live theater
there is constantly a thousand
things that can go wrong and need synchronized amongst HUMANS. Theater
is the marriage
of the lowest and the highest technologies trying to become transparent
to the art and artists and
the performance. I'm sure there's other situations in the
military/security realm that are of similar
technical
Eventually we would all prefer the whole UI would sorta disappear into
our lives, becoming as
flexible, interactive and expressive as possible. I've been building
custom controls and indicators
with MSAgent for many years. They come and go from my life as my tastes
and tasks change,
but that power to build a little control surface, give it a name you can
call, have it show progress
and such, and be able to report auditorily.
How would I do that in say. . .dot NET? I don't know. never went
there. seemed to me like
new solutions for old problems which already had solutions that would
need to be redeveloped
with more powerful machines and expensive software.
That's fine for the pro, but we have to beckon on that post-application
future, where the programmer
is the user. That programming occurs coincident with interaction, and
the entirety of what is provided
by the system to the user is under his or her control, and the
mechanisms of that control use
the analogies the individual picks, so Windows, Agents, Documents, etc.
etc. are whatever they
are, and the metaphor is totally the choice of the user. If I want to
think of the system as a family
farm or a library or an anthill or a tree or a treasure map or a
spreadsheet -- I shouldn't have to try
to think like a programmer. I shouldn't have to relearn what a WINDOW
is. or what a FILE is.
These are the sorts of things that immediately confuse an uninitiated
user. At least AGENT could
actually fulfull its name.
The iPhone tiled apps grid on the commercials lately has been my base ui
vision for many years,
and now, finally there is a good implementation of that vision. But
that is only one of the obvious
2D schemes that are grotesquely simple. At three and four dimensions,
the geometrically obvious
simplest interfaces are not quite so intuitive. Why it took decades to
get to that point in UI design
is beyond me. finally we are seeing multi-touch. I have been waiting
with my MSAgent stuff for
multi-input for years and years.
codenamed Origami and Trance, my designs for the naturally obvious
default UI's of higher dimensions
are based on real origami. Now that origami has become a mathematically
superior model of
either the cartesian stuff or stick and string/compass constructions in
geometry for proving by
construction (QEF) sort of proofs. Can solve higher order equations,
etc.
We'll have to outgrow our preoccupations with squares and cubes before
virtual analogs better
match Nature. Too much computing power spend fitting square pegs into
tetrahedral holes.
Anyway, what else do I have around. . .
Cliptalk. I always have that running. Rob's site seems to be down.
It's usually at
Just a little clipboard reader rather perfect in its simplicity and
utility.
hmm. I think that was on Dave's server. Haven't seen or heard from him
for a while.
http://dogagent.com is still working well, though.
newsgroups at news.dogagent.com seem to still be at least as active as
these msnews ones.
Anyway, here's an incidental screenshot of my workspace. Nothing posh.
I want power and responsiveness.
can you spot all the characters?
http://eisic.ws/$$/Clipboard01.png
Not puffy and soft and animated and just a big jerk-off that most
supposed UI "enhancements"
that somehow get top billing with every new OS incarnation. fluff and
practically pornographic
to anyone who is working hard at accomplishing actual work with a
computer. I still run
fricking cmd.exe on regular basis to do searches because even that is
horribly bloated
and inconsiderate of limited resources.
must be nice to always have the fastest computers to play around on.
regular people are hanging on
to XP for dear life, afraid that productivity will be foiled by some
brand new grand master scheme
that breaks more things than it fixes.
Yeah, this is a soul-searching for me, and I can only think that MS may
not understand what they
have in MSAgent. Like there has been enough turnover, etc., that the
whole point of MSAgent
got lost in the make-it-prettier-like-apple-does crap.
Just read rob's post and I agree.
MSAgent is maybe the greatest thing that MS has ever created.
That's all for today. I notice that word is starting to get out, so, as
I've heard somewhere before:
stay tooned. .
T
--
//><\
Unknown
Since the object of this seems to be to determine MS Agent
development/useage, I Googled the following, to try and get a read on
what's going on. It seems that a lot of development & useage is
currently going on, not necessarily reflected in the Agent Newsgroup
(due to, I presume, the proliferation of all kinds of Web blogs and
other information formats)
The yearly results for Agent searches (the reason to not use quotes,
is to pick up thinngs like MS Agent and so on).
Below are the numerical results, and also the first page of the
microsoft agent 2009 search (it's only the first quarter).
"microsoft agent" 2005 149,000
microsoft agent 2005 4,720,000
"microsoft agent" 2006 79,300
microsoft agent 2006 4,630,000
"microsoft agent" 2007 99,000
microsoft agent 2007 4,380,000
"microsoft agent" 2008 165,000
microsoft agent 2008 7,490,000
"microsoft agent" 2009 217,000
microsoft agent 2009 7,820,000
Discussions in Microsoft Agent
DLLs Kernel, Unanswered question. 1 post · 1/12/2009 · How can i
create a balloon with botton using microsoft agent 2.0??? 3 posts ·
1/12/2009 ...
www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.msagent&cat=en_US...
- 72k - Cached - Similar pages
Microsoft Office Accounting Pro 2009 in Microsoft Agent
Microsoft Office Accounting Pro 2009 in Microsoft Agent ... My husband
just bought me a new hp laptop computer with Microsoft Office
Accounting 2009 program ...
www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.msagent...p...
- 30k - Cached - Similar pages
More results from www.microsoft.com »
Kirby's Microsoft Agent Dialog - mIRC Code Snippet
mIRC Snippet: Kirby's Microsoft Agent Dialog Posted on Feb 2, 2009
5:48 pm. Very nice! 10/10 from me. Kirby. Comments: 354. mIRC Snippet:
Kirby's Microsoft ...
www.hawkee.com/snippet/5708/ - 105k - Cached - Similar pages
Make Animated Characters Talk With Microsoft Agent Scripting ...
Make Animated Characters Talk With Microsoft Agent Scripting Helper
(Windows). Jan. 19th, 2009 By Saikat Basu. make talking picture ...
www.makeuseof.com/tag/make-animated-characters-talk-with-microsoft-agent-scripting-helper-windows/
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Download3K has downloaded and tested MS-Agent Scripting Software on 18
Feb 2009 with some of Today's best antivirus engines and you can find
below, ...
www.download3k.com/Home-Education/Teaching-Training-Tools/Download-Microsoft-Agent-Scripting-Software.html
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MS-Agent Scripting Software 2.2 - Allows you to create MS Agent ...
Click to enlarge; Price: Free; File Size: 2.89 M Requirements: Pentium
100 Mhz, 16 MB RAM, MS Agent 2.0, VB 6.0 Runtime; Update Time:
3/22/2009 1:05:11 PM ...
www.sharewareplaza.com/MS-Agent-Scripting-Software-download_5063.html
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microsoft agent </> LinkedWords™ - Contextually find and manage ...
Rate 1/5 this listing (microsoft agent) Rate 2/5 this listing
(microsoft agent) .... 2004-2009 | March 28, 2009 | LinkedWords.com™.
All Rights Reserved. ...
www.linkedwords.com/brands/software/microsoft_agent.php - 31k - Cached
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Exploit Code for Microsoft Agent Bug Appears - PC World
Microsoft has posted its technical write-up of the Agent vulnerability
in the ... Norton Internet Security 2009 is the fastest security suite
anywhere. ...
www.pcworld.com/article/137166/exploit_code_for_microsoft_agent_bug_appears.html
- 60k - Cached - Similar pages
MS-Agent Properties Viewer Vista download - View info about MS ...
MS-Agent Properties Viewer is a small and easy to use Freeware that
allows you to ... Software: MS-Agent Properties Viewer 3.1. Date
Released: Feb 12, 2009 ...
www.bestvistadownloads.com/software/t-free-ms-agent-properties-viewer-download-sinamvdw.html
- 79k - Cached - Similar pages
Free-To-Try.com - Details for MS-Agent Properties Viewer 3.1
MS-Agent Properties Viewer 3.1 - View detailed information about MS
Agent 2, ... Trace Modeler for UML Sequence Diagrams 1.6 (2009-03-10)
update ...
www.free-to-try.com/33324/details-ms-agent-properties-viewer.html -
53k - Cached - Similar pages
Searches related to: microsoft agent 2009
Abhishek
Viewer :)
<Steve> wrote in message news:g0n7t4ls99554cl3i...@4ax.com...
| microsoft agent </> LinkedWordsT - Contextually find and manage ...
| Rate 1/5 this listing (microsoft agent) Rate 2/5 this listing
| (microsoft agent) .... 2004-2009 | March 28, 2009 | LinkedWords.comT.
Unknown
Web
And this is a search of "microsoft agent" 2009
on Microsoft's www.live.com
Notes:
1. My talking buddy (below) is in beta!
2. mIRC (below; also see www.mirc.com, where it is stated that "mIRC
passes 150 million download mark." )
3. Seems like, as stated by Scott T., in another post, that "MSAgent
isn't old technology, it is technology whose time has finally come."!!
1-10 of 232,000 results·
Results
Discussions in Microsoft Agent
DLLs Kernel : 1 post: 1/12/2009: How can i create a b alloon with
botton u sing microsoft agent 2.0??? 3 posts: 1/12/2009: MP telemetry
: 2 posts: 1/4/2009
www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.msagent&ca...
· Cached page
Discussions in Microsoft Agent
Discussions in Microsoft Agent | | ... Microsoft Office Acc ounting
Pro 2009
www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.msagent&ex...
· Cached page
Microsoft Agent Scripting Software 2.0 - Allows you to create MS
Agent ...
Microsoft Agent Scripting Software 20 is a small and easy to use
software that helps you in ... File Transit © 1998-2009
www.filetransit.com/software/index.php?action=viewdetails&id=8918
· Cached page
Microsoft Agent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microsoft Agent is a technology developed by Microsoft which employs
animated characters, text-to ... This page was last modified on 7
February 2009, at 07:26. All text is available under ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Agent
· Cached page
Download Microsoft Agent Scripting Software, Microsoft Agent
Scripting ...
Free Microsoft Agent Scripting Software Download, Microsoft Agent
Scripting Software 2.2 ... About | Contact Us | Copyright 2002 - 2009
BrotherSoft.com All rights reserved.
www.brothersoft.com/microsoft-agent-scripting-software-14370.html
· Cached page
LCARS Terminal -- View topic - Voice control Microsoft Agent core ...
... knows when to fight and when not to fight. -Sun Tzu, the Art of
War. Mon Feb 23, 2009 ... Microsoft Agent and localization support:
You should verify that your system meets the minimal ...
forum.lcars-terminal.net/viewtopic.php?p=38451
· Cached page
Microsoft Agent: A Patch Tuesday Unto Itself
The only critical fix is in Microsoft Agent, which has a vulnerability
that could allow for ... 3-24-2009 03:08 PM by ameenNsaleem; clearcase
vob creation problem on NAS storage ...
www.esecurityplanet.com/patches/article.php/3699106/Microsoft-Agent-A-Patch-Tuesday-Unto-I...
· Cached page
MyTalkingBuddy - BETA - Talking Search Engine using Microsoft Agent
...
MyTalkingBuddy.com uses Microsoft Agent Technology. Make
MyTalkingBuddy your Home Page - Add to ... Copyright © 2009 Advanced
Search Technologies, Inc.
www.talkingbuddy.com
· Cached page
mIRC: The use of Agents with mIRC
mIRC supports Microsoft Agent both through the Options dialog and
through scripting. ... Copyright © mIRC Co. Ltd. 1995-2009. All Rights
Reserved.
www.mirc.com/agents.html
· Cached page
Microsoft Agent - Acresso Community
Microsoft Agent installshield.express.vb ... Powered by vBulletin®
Version 3.6.4 Copyright ©2000 - 2009,
blaze young
Microsoft Agent Technology... Try googling for 'Agent Characters'...
You'll find plenty of results.
Microsoft did a great job of bringing out a technology, getting
people's hopes up that there would be a future for it, proctologizing
us with legalese about how we can and can't use the software, making
us needlessly fill out forms to use and distribute it, anally probing
us with a 'logo program', and then proceeded to run it into the ground
with a series of annual micturation ceremonies on the userbase and the
developer community by breaking it everywhere it was of any use.
I am sure there are many many many many people who use agent
technology that don't participate in this group who will be somewhat
peeved, if not majorly annoyed, that Microsoft spontaneously at a late
point in the development cycle, decided not to include it in Windows
7, and then dropped it on us like a footnote that they were going to
do so. 'Oh, and by the way, screw you developer community. We've
decided to take things out of the system that you might use and make
you pay more for it'.
If I sound particularly unkind at this point, good. I and others have
invested enough time at this point to give you the bird for this
series of basically insulting maneuvers in the mismanagement of a
technology product. You should collectively feel shame for the nearly
complete disregard the users of this product have received over the
past decade and you should certainly consider going into another
industry if this is the perceived mechanism for how to handle the
development.
The general idea in a software product is that it is supposed to
IMPROVE over time. This Mork & Mindy / Benjamin Button approach to
gradually degrading into an immature product with fewer features that
ceases to function and basically destroys the interested parties is
either a demonstration of pure incompetence and apathy, or a brilliant
move to piss people off and alienate the supporters while working on
something new.
But, based on my experience, I am unfortunately leaning towards pure
incompetence and apathy.
Fix it, bring it up to the modern age, and don't pretend you are here
to care unless you plan to do so.
Saga
Actually I thnk you were civil about it.
There can be millions of people using this technology. Removing it from
Windows 7 is a bad idea. Perhaps MS sees the negative feedback received
regarding Clippy and the MSAgent technology in Office, but this does not
mean that the technology itself is despised or not used.
Since there have been various TV ads indicating how easy it is to use MS
technology, perhaps it would be wise to add a TV ad indicating the intention
of removing this technology from Win 7, let's see how many people show up
at the Redmond corporate office with torches and pitchforks. <eg>
Unless MS can do a better job at sampling the current user base, I don't
see how it can make an informed decision regarding this issue. Saga
"blaze young" <campin...@SPAMMEgmail.com> wrote in message
news:947e3625-b422-4b78...@p6g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
Unknown
>There can be millions of people using this technology. Removing it from
>Windows 7 is a bad idea. Perhaps MS sees the negative feedback received
>regarding Clippy and the MSAgent technology in Office, but this does not
>mean that the technology itself is despised or not used.
Seems to me that the question of useage of Microsoft Agent technology
has been answered: it's used, and seemingly heavily. The first page of
Microsoft's search engine displays results, all from 2009 (see above
in this same thread) ranging from an MS Agent technical quesiton, to a
product that's in beta, to a product that claims 150,000,000 downloads
(none of which -- obviously -- will work on Windows 7 if the current
plan of abandonment sticks). I had previously thought that educational
use was the "best" use of Agent. But mIRC seems rather interesting as
well.
It does certainly seem that actual adoption of MS Agent as a truly
useful technology is there, and even increasing. My take on this is
that, over time, developers are understanding how to utilize a
technology that simply seemed "cool" and enchanting at the time it
came out. (Still does to me.)
If there was any doubt about useage, the results from the Google and
Microsoft searches should have answered that doubt. At least enough so
that Windows 7 shouldn't be Agent-less.
>Since there have been various TV ads indicating how easy it is to use MS
>technology, perhaps it would be wise to add a TV ad indicating the intention
>of removing this technology from Win 7, let's see how many people show up
>at the Redmond corporate office with torches and pitchforks. <eg>
Funny you say this. I've had similar thoughts, but coming from the
mouth of a TV journalist; or a newpaper headline.
tjc...@earthlink.net
I have used MS Agent technology for years developing animated,
illustrated, narrated renditions of Bible stories for use in my own
classes and for sharing on the web. The ones I have "published" are
available at http://sschool.com/kids/MSAgent/launch.htm.
I typically use the PowerPoint assistant to present the stories. This
allows me to put a story together in a couple of hours. We use it
typically once a month or so in our class.
I have had multiple contacts from others who have downloaded my
presentations and use them with their own groups, from the US and from
Australia. Comments have been consistently positive. I have no way
of knowing how many have downloaded the presentations for their own
use.
Currently I am running Windows XP SP3. If Windows 7 does not support
MS Agent, that will be a significant reason for me not to consider
upgrading.
For the sake of backward compatibility, I strongly urge you to at
least support the existing technology on Windows 7. I can understand
a decision not to invest new development in the technology, but at
least it should be carried forward under current engineering.
Tom Cook
On Mar 30, 8:53 pm, "Jason Grieves [MSFT]" <jasongrie...@live.com>
wrote:
toma...@voxproxy.com
wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this thread
> if you are willing.
>
1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes
your
software that uses MS Agent?
Vox Proxy, talking animated characters for PowerPoint. Our web site is
http://www.voxproxy.com
Vox Proxy is distributed with an add-in to Microsoft PowerPoint as its
primary interface. It allows users to write scripts attached to
individual slides in order to control Microsoft Agent characters in
slide shows. Its integration with PowerPoint is thorough, using
PowerPoint's COM object model. It also permits running, synchronizing,
and interacting with other multimedia sources during a slide show,
including Microsoft Media Player, Word, Excel, and Macromedia Flash.
You will find Vox Proxy in Microsoft’s Office Marketplace at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/EM010720271033.aspx?pid=CE010306051033
Vox Proxy has been reviewed favorably by the "Crabby Lady" in the
Microsoft Office Marketplace.
See our Office Maretplace jump page at http://www.voxproxy.com/msom/
Vox Proxy was first introduced in 2001, when it won the Denver
Business Journal's award for “Colorado's Most Innovative New
Product".
2. How many active users use your software?
We have shipped at least 7,000 individual licenses of Vox Proxy, and
in addition, site licenses for more than 10,000 individual seats. I
don’t know how many customers are currently active. Our client base
encompasses all industries, and is divided approximately two thirds
commercial, government, churches, and other non-profit, and one third
educational (schools).
3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website
in your
current release?
Yes. Vox Proxy uses localization features primarily in the sense that
it supports multiple TTS languages. We have shipped Vox Proxy to all
50 states and worldwide to customers in more than 35 countries, and
even to an aircraft carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf.
4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting
your
software for Windows 7?
Yes. Vox Proxy runs on all versions of Windows from 9x through Vista
and on all versions of PowerPoint from 2000 through 2007. Most
features also play through the PowerPoint Viewer. Our intent has been
to actively support Windows 7.
Rather than discontinue support of Microsoft Agent, we would strongly
encourage an enhanced Agent functionality. We believe that the
effective use of avatars has been amply demonstrated in recent months
and years. Game consoles, in fact, have accustomed millions to their
efficacy and utility.
We are truly hopeful that Microsoft will recognize the importance,
usefulness, and appeal of Agent technology and will see fit not only
to continue its support, but provide enhanced features in the future.
Tom Atkins
Atkins@discussions.microsoft.com Tom Atkins
software that uses MS Agent?
Proxy, talking animated characters for PowerPoint. Our web site is
Vox Proxy is distributed with an add-in to Microsoft PowerPoint as its
primary interface. It allows users to write scripts attached to individual
slides in order to control Microsoft Agent characters in slide shows. Its
integration with PowerPoint is thorough, using PowerPoint's COM object model.
It also permits running, synchronizing, and interacting with other multimedia
sources during a slide show, including Microsoft Media Player, Word, Excel,
and Macromedia Flash.
You will find Vox Proxy in Microsoft’s Office Marketplace at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/EM010720271033.aspx?pid=CE010306051033
Vox Proxy has been reviewed favorably by the "Crabby Lady" in the Microsoft
Office Marketplace.
See our Office Maretplace jump page at http://www.voxproxy.com/msom/
Vox Proxy was first introduced in 2001, when it won the Denver Business
Journal's award for “Colorado's Most Innovative New Product".
2. How many active users use your software?
We have sold at least 7,000 individual licenses of Vox Proxy, and in
addition, site licenses for more than 10,000 individual seats. I don’t know
how many customers are currently active. Our client base encompasses all
industries, and is divided approximately two thirds commercial, government,
churches, and other non-profit, and one third educational (schools).
3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in your
current release?
Yes. Vox Proxy uses localization features primarily in the sense that it
supports multiple TTS languages. We have shipped Vox Proxy to all 50 states
and worldwide to customers in more than 35 countries, and even to an aircraft
carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf.
4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
software for Windows 7?
Yes. Vox Proxy runs on all versions of Windows from 9x through Vista and on
all versions of PowerPoint from 2000 through 2007. Most features also play
through the PowerPoint Viewer. Our intent has been to actively support
Windows 7.
Rather than discontinue support of Microsoft Agent, we would strongly
encourage an enhanced Agent functionality. We believe that the effective use
of avatars has been amply demonstrated in recent months and years. Game
consoles, in fact, have accustomed millions to their efficacy and utility.
We are truly hopeful that Microsoft will recognize the importance and
usefulness of Agent technology and will see fit not only to continue its
Merlin2009
1) I have used MS Agent to create a web site chatterbot entered in the
Chatterbox Challenge one of the two competitions for AI entities that happen
each year. A number of the graduates of the competition have become
commercial software/websites.
The URL for the my Merlin bot is:
home.comcast.net/~chatterbot/bots/merlin/
With the death of Microsoft's agent technologies this will probably be the
last time that Merlin is entered in an AI competition. MS agent is used as a
UI to javascript based AI. The Merlin chatterbot includes, among other
capabilities, a front-end to Windows Live Search/Encarta Instant Answers. I
recognized from the beginning of development that MS Agent had a limited life
cycle but chose to deploy with Merlin because I new he was installed and
compatible with the target platform (windows users).
2) Small current user base. Dozens of users. Possibly growing to hundreds
(thousands?) by the end of the test/competition. The competition ends in May.
3) If by localized components you are referring to installed with the OS,
then yes. I do not download any components via the web. Only the javascript
AI is delivered via the web. Animation and sound are used from the client
computer.
4) The program does run with Vista (although because I am using the default
voice Merlin speaks like a girl on Vista).
The question for me becomes what to do after the prototype test concludes.
By abandoning all it's agent technologies I think Microsoft is missing an
opportunity to
enhance and differentiate some of its products (silverlight). I separate the
MS Agent functionality versus the actual current software. The current MS
Agent evelopment tools I have not embraced, but the potential of interactive
intelligent software agents has been proven to be able to help users and
reduce enterprise costs.
Abhishek
|
| If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this
thread
| if you are willing.
|
| 1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
| software that uses MS Agent?
Talking Translator Pro, a software which translate text and read it using MS
Agent. www.abhisoft.net/ttpro
| 2. How many active users use your software?
Hundreds
| 3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in
your
| current release?
No
| 4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
| software for Windows 7?
|
| Thanks for your feedback!
|
My software works fine on Vista, since Win 7 is minor update over Windows
Vista then I except that it to also work on Win7.
Abhishek
|
| If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this
thread
| if you are willing.
|
| 1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
| software that uses MS Agent?
MSAgent Scripting Software, a script maker for MS Agent.
Agent. www.abhisoft.net/mass
| 2. How many active users use your software?
Thousands of users since its a freeware.
| 3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in
your
| current release?
No
| 4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
| software for Windows 7?
|
| Thanks for your feedback!
|
My software works fine on Vista, since Win 7 is minor update over Windows
maverick...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this thread
> if you are willing.
>
> 1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
> software that uses MS Agent?
years and throughout this time have had a close working relationship
with Mr DeFino who is the developer of the MS Agent program
"CyberBuddy".
> 2. How many active users use your software?
versions of CyberBuddy and Answerpad that utilize MS Agent characters
which we don't track, but it's well into the thousands. We recently
created a FREE new starter package which we know has been downloaded
several thousand in just the last few months. Besides free software
and packages we offer, to date the purchases of our MS Agent character
models and packages is well over 15,000. We have hundreds of customers
(possibly thousands) that have been regular users and customers over
the past 5 years or longer.
> 3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in your
> current release?
> 4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
> software for Windows 7?
>
> Thanks for your feedback!
By the stats I've provided as well as what the others that have posted
here should certainly give you an indication that MS Agent Technology
is far from being dead and obsolete and still has a strong following.
Besides being a fun and amusing desktop toy for many users, MS Agent
technology is also a valuable asset to many users with handicaps. We
have clients with various handicaps that use our products, including
psychologists who have used the technology to help patients with
everything from learning disabilities to helping those with emotional
problems that are withdrawn to improve their social interaction
skills.
I've been seeing posts on the Internet for 10 years by people that say
MS Agent is old, obsolete and dead technology, maybe to them it is,
but if that was true we certainly wouldn't have continued investing
1000's of hours of our time and money over the past 10 years into a
technology that was dead.
As "Abhishek" suggested, if you don't want to include MS Agent with
Win7, then at least update the Agent redistribution package so users
don't have to resort to copying the Windows Vista files after
installing the present redistributable version to correct background
transparency issues, which according to Microsoft the copying of these
files from Vista to Windows 7 would be a violation of the Windows
EULA. All you're going to do is force tens of thousands of people into
becoming criminals because you know full well people are going to do
it anyway.
Please don't become another "Fascist" company that tries to dictate
and control what consumers should be able to have. People have been
investing small fortunes on computer hardware and software over the
years and they don't want to be controlled as to what they can or
can't use on their system. You want to anger and turn off consumers
from upgrading to the latest O/S, just continue telling them their
favorite software is no longer supported.
Serkof
I wrote several software using the MS-Agent technology which a ("Agent
Screenplay Editor") affect me particularly because I perfects regularly
since more than ten years. It allows its users to create animations which
may include several characters able to dialog and evolve before a chosen
decor. These animations are in HTML files and can therefore operate in
newsgroups or Web pages (with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express). The
stage setting can be a window pop-up. It is also possible to make the
characters singing and add a musical background. The software is reachable
in three languages (French, English and Spanish). It is written in
JavaScript and the result can be in JavaScript or VBScript.
It is possible see this software in French language and operate in a bridled
form (because of limited opportunities in a Web page) :
http://serge.knopf.free.fr/agent/agent.htm. It is possible also download
here to make it work in the home without restriction and in
the language of his choice : http://serge.knopf.free.fr/telech/agent.zip.
I do not know the number of users of my software but I regularly meets some
on the french newsgroup news://news.winpasapas.org/fr.tec.agents. We are all
deeply frustrated by the programmed disappearance of MS-Agent.
I am of course willing to make all the necessary adjustments to operate my
software under Windows 7 if the technology MS-Agent was finally maintained.
I also wrote a JavaScript software allowing to test methods and properties
MS-Agent : http://serge.knopf.free.fr/scripting/testagent.htm and another on
the methods and properties for MS-speech-API :
http://serge.knopf.free.fr/scripting/testspeech.htm.
Regards.
Serge K.
______________________________________________________
Bonjour,
J'ai écrit plusieurs logiciels utilisant la technologie MS-Agent dont un
("Jaugez_vos_agents") me tient particulièrement à cour car je le
perfectionne régulièrement depuis plus de dix ans. Il permet à ses
utilisateurs de créer des animations pouvant comporter plusieurs personnages
capables de dialoguer et évoluer devant un décor choisi. Ces animations sont
dans des fichiers HTML et peuvent donc fonctionner dans des forums de
discussion ou des pages Web (avec Internet Explorer et Outlook Express). Le
décor peut être une fenêtre pop-up. Il est aussi possible de faire chanter
les personnages et d'ajouter un fond musical. Le logiciel est accessible en
trois langues (français, anglais et espagnol). Il est écrit en JavaScript et
le résultat peut-être en JavaScript ou en VBScript.
On peut voir ce logiciel en français et le faire fonctionner sous une forme
bridée (à cause des possibilités restreintes dans une page Web) :
http://serge.knopf.free.fr/agent/agent.htm. On peut aussi le télécharger ici
pour le faire fonctionner chez soi sans restriction et dans la langue de son
choix : http://serge.knopf.free.fr/telech/agent.zip.
Je ne connais pas le nombre d'utilisateurs de mon logiciel mais j'en
rencontre régulièrement certains sur le forum francophone
news://news.winpasapas.org/fr.tec.agents. Nous sommes tous vivement
contrariés par la disparition programmée de MS-Agent.
Je suis bien entendu disposé à effectuer toutes les adaptations nécessaires
pour faire fonctionner mon logiciel sous Windows 7 si la technologie
MS-Agent était finalement maintenue.
J'ai écrit aussi un logiciel JavaScript permettant de tester les méthodes et
propriétés MS-Agent : http://serge.knopf.free.fr/scripting/testAgent.htm et
un autre concernant les méthodes et propriétés pour MS-speech-API :
http://serge.knopf.free.fr/scripting/testSpeech.htm.
Amicalement.
Serge K.
Guilherme Lindroth Filho
wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this thread
> if you are willing.
>
> 1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
> software that uses MS Agent?
We make realist MSAgents for a long time.Our female MSAgents Vanessa
and Nicole ( http://www.guile3d.com.br/ ) sold hundred of copies in
less than two years, showing that there are still a lot of people that
use and like this technology. Our several free MSAgents were
downloaded more than 2 million times in the same period.
> 2. How many active users use your software?
With many applications that you can see here: http://www.guile3d.com.br/applications.html
> 3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in your
> current release?
Yes.
> 4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
> software for Windows 7?
Sure we do.
We really hope you guys don´t kill MSAgent.
Thanks,
Guile Lindroth
www.guile3d.com
Abhishek
"Jason Grieves [MSFT]" <jasong...@live.com> wrote in message
news:D9B64095-9AB1-4306...@microsoft.com...
Unknown
The reason the feedback request was posted was because Microsoft
Agent's continuation was, and to the best of my knowledge, still is,
being evaluated. Although I say this as one of the licensees who was
initially emailed by Microsoft, I have no idea what the "chances" are
of Agent be perpetuated. Microsoft has an official position, which has
not changed, as far as I know. I'm just going to wait and see. This
post was posted after the email went out by Microsoft. That wouldn't
make any sense unless at least some at MS were questioning this,
because Microsoft posted it.
Keeping my fingers crossed, feeling extremely unhappy about this
situation, and waiting...
Abhishek
MSAgent is discontinued :(
Unknown
page was updated with the discontinuation notice around the same time
the request for feedback was posted.
I'm just hoping that the feedback MS has received causes them to keep
Agent going.
chrispra
"Abhishek" <m...@server.com> a ï¿œcrit dans le message de news:
e2sbe$lyJHA...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> check the MS Agent Home page, they have close that site with a note that
> MSAgent is discontinued :(
>
>
http://www.microsoft.com/msagent/prodinfo/
--
Christian
CinSoft
Agent...
Sounds like it's time for the development community to step in. We're
writing a replacement runtime for Windows 7. The first alpha release will be
available by the end of June.
It won't talk yet, but we're making it available A.S.A.P. just to show that
we're committed to supporting an MS Agent runtime on Windows 7, and also to
let people put it through its paces (for now, it also runs on XP and Vista).
Don Fehr,
Cinnamon Software Inc.
www.cinnamonsoftware.com
Cin...@videotron.ca
CinSoft
The first cut of our Agent runtime for Windows 7 is now available. It's just
the first cut, but it can be used for testing agent apps. We're interested
in feedback.
It's called Double Agent and its available at
http://www.cinnamonsoftware.com/double_agent.htm
We got it posted just in time for vacation. I'll be out of touch for a
couple of weeks but will pick this back up in mid-July.
Don Fehr
Cinnamon Software Inc.
Cin...@videotron.ca
CinSoft
As usual, we're behind schedule, but I have managed to get a new version of
Double Agent posted on our web site at
http://www.cinnamonsoftware.com/double_agent.htm.
It talks now, but doesn't listen yet (much like many people I know...) We
ran into the limitations of using MCI for the animations earlier than
expected, so we've changed the animation technology to DirectShow (which was
our ultimate plan in any case).
The next steps are to implement speech recognition and to get all of the
source code published as Open Source software (under the GNU license).
Hmmm... programming or paperwork... a tough choice.
In any case, I hope to get it all done by October 22 - the official Windows
7 retail delivery date. Feedback is always appreciated.
K@discussions.microsoft.com Ted K
It was with great sadness that I learned that Ms Agent will no longer be
supported on Win7.
I have been using MS Agent since its inception for a literacy programme that
I developed using VBasic, and which is being used by our school board. The
wonderful thing about MS Agent is that it really helps our literacy students
to read because the characters can be placed in different parts of a text
and used to help the learner read that specific text in an entertaining way.
This is not a big market but one very useful to the community at large.
I would not mind that the MS Agent package is not included in Win7 as I have
had that issue in earlier versions of Windows, but as long as it works
properly when installed that would be OK. I have tested out MS Agent under
Win7 and there is an issue, that the character is now in its own "window"
rather than floating freely in a window; but everything else works fine. I
understand that the Win7 display engine has been changed, but I wonder if
this is a big issue to modify in MS Agent itself. Were you to release the
MS Agent code to open source, I am sure it would be picked up by developers.
I also think that MS Agent has been under-advertised and under-rated.
Perhaps the Bob experience may have given MSFT a bad taste, but I think it
has great potential which still has not been realised by any means.
Thanks,
Ted
GrandpaB
I have anecdotal data that the programs were very effective. The limitation
of MS Agent was that it was only compatible with the Windows platform and IE
browser. I am planning to export and expand the VB applications to a website
of many interactive, K-12 math lessons. I am having difficulty finding a
suitable technology for this project. I’ve considered Flash, but the best
replacement for Merlin appears to be Media Semantics’ Character Builder. It
creates a SWF movie, but the TTS engine resides on the server. Interactive
dialog with the student will cause the WAV and SWF files to be generated on
the server and downloaded to the client. This causes an unacceptable delay
in the student’s reply. I am exploring Silverlight, but have not yet found a
replacement for Merlin. I hope that something in Silverlight will soon be
announced to fill the gap. I would prefer to do all the development in
Visual Studio and not have to deal with Flash development.
--
GrandpaB
Remy Lebeau
"GrandpaB" <Gran...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1A260533-78C2-4138...@microsoft.com...
> I am planning to export and expand the VB applications to a website
> of many interactive, K-12 math lessons. I am having difficulty finding
> a suitable technology for this project.
How about LivingActor? http://www.livingactor.com
--
Remy Lebeau (TeamB)
ecchgr
This was written by my daughter. I don't know how many people use it. I run
it on Windows 2003, it works on Vista but only with one voice, on Windows 7
if you apply the MS hotfix first, but needs to be changed as the voice
doesn't pause on a succession of fullstops.
Calando
"Jason Grieves [MSFT]" wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> If you are a developer of MS Agent could you provide feedback to this thread
> if you are willing.
>
> 1. Can you describe your software or point me to a URL that describes your
> software that uses MS Agent?
> 2. How many active users use your software?
> 3. Do you utilize the localized components from the MS Agent website in your
> current release?
> 4. Are you running your software on Windows Vista? Are you targeting your
> software for Windows 7?
>
> Thanks for your feedback!
>
> URl: BarksToEnglish.com
30 visits a day from users
local and MS site downloads
yes the software is to run on all windows OS
ISSUE NEED HELP......
Please help, when we download from the MS site we get a MS agents warning:..
' an application is attemping to load a MS agent characture from an
UNtrusted website. do you want to allow this characture to be loaded? yes/
no...
How can I be a trusted site or end this "UNtrusted" message it is killing my
site traffic... Please advise,,,
thanks Clark 970-449-9210