Thanks to MHashmi for the heads up!
The world's largest software company said Thursday it had acquired privately held Colloquis Inc., which makes software that lets customers instant-message with a computer to get answers to tech-support questions or information about new products. Microsoft plans to use the technology to let consumers of its Xbox video-game console get online tech support in the coming weeks, and eventually plans online agents that can promote new products and serve up ads. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
According to Microsoft's Dickey, supporting Xbox customers is just the first step in the company's plans for Colloquis. Microsoft hopes to build avatars, or virtual online characters, that users of its Windows Live Messenger software can interact with by sending instant-messages--for example to a character in a new movie. Advertisers could insert spots into the IM conversation, he says. Colloquis' technology could also be combined with speech recognition and synthesis software to let drug companies build apps that connect patients and doctors, or software companies provide technical information to developers. "We're just scratching the tip of the iceberg here," says Dickey.
View: InformationWeek
The world's largest software company said Thursday it had acquired privately held Colloquis Inc., which makes software that lets customers instant-message with a computer to get answers to tech-support questions or information about new products. Microsoft plans to use the technology to let consumers of its Xbox video-game console get online tech support in the coming weeks, and eventually plans online agents that can promote new products and serve up ads. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
According to Microsoft's Dickey, supporting Xbox customers is just the first step in the company's plans for Colloquis. Microsoft hopes to build avatars, or virtual online characters, that users of its Windows Live Messenger software can interact with by sending instant-messages--for example to a character in a new movie. Advertisers could insert spots into the IM conversation, he says. Colloquis' technology could also be combined with speech recognition and synthesis software to let drug companies build apps that connect patients and doctors, or software companies provide technical information to developers. "We're just scratching the tip of the iceberg here," says Dickey.
View: InformationWeek
On another note - this stuff could be pretty cool... you can see some of this stuff in action now (if I understand it correctly) - if you IM with smarterchild@hotmail.com or encarta@botmetro.com... both of them are "smart" programs that let you search Encarta (in the case of Encarta) -r access the dictionary, news, stock quotes and all sorts of other stuff in case of SmarterChild.
who do you work for?
google? yahoo? apple? the doj?
And now you know what Live is really all about. Good ol' MS, always thinking of ways to improve the customer's "experience."
That experience being sort of along the lines of a stay at Abu Ghraib.
And now you know what Live is really all about. Good ol' MS, always thinking of ways to improve the customer's "experience."
That experience being sort of along the lines of a stay at Abu Ghraib.
Google.. Your good ol' Google serves up ads 24/7 on almost every search, mail, etc.
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