Is Linux having feature like "Microsoft Agents"?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| sridevis3 Aug 31, 2006 2:56 AM EDT |
Is any flavour of Linux having "Microsoft Agent" concept?
What do i mean here is Microsoft Agent characters like Genie,
Merlin..etc, and apis to use those characters in applications. If not available, any inputs on how to create such things in linux? Thanks & Regards, S Sridevi |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 31, 2006 3:38 AM EDT |
Try Vigor ;-) http://vigor.sourceforge.net/screenshots/ |
| cyber_rigger Aug 31, 2006 6:08 AM EDT |
I hate it
when people try to drag Linux
down to the level of MS Windows. :^) The reason Clippy got into Windows is so Bill could get a date. |
| number6x Aug 31, 2006 6:18 AM EDT |
The functionality of agents have been drastically reduced in versions of Windows since Windows 95. There are rumors that agentsmay be dropped from Vista in order to meet Ship dates. The most functional agents Microsoft shipped were with the product called 'Bob'. So if you want agents, I would not look to Linux, and abandon all future versions of windows. Get yourself a Pentium 90 with 32 Meg of ram, load up Windows 3.1 and install Bob. If you find 'agents' valuable, Bob will rock your world! :) |
| cyber_rigger Aug 31, 2006 8:00 AM EDT |
#1 Microsoft BOB (top 10 flops) http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1977900,00.asp "...it was Bill Gates' wife, Melinda French Gates, who managed the BOB project." |
| dek Aug 31, 2006 8:50 AM EDT |
Check out # 10 on that eweek / M$ Watch list!! I'm not sure that I've seen a discussion of that here. If there's been a discussion, then either my memory is going or it was before my time.Quoting: 10.No Microsoft Linux!: Microsoft could have and should have done its own version of Linux. It could have bought a Linux distro vendor or just christened some branch of Windows (with some Unix-compatibility add-ons) as Microsoft Linux. By doing this, Microsoft could have thrown a real monkey wrench into Linux companies' plans. Instead, Microsoft continues to spend lots of money, time and attention fighting open-source software on a whole host of fronts. They should have joined the camp, rather than obsessing on beating them.Huh??? First of all, the author of the list seems slightly clueless as to M$'s feelings about the GPL. I don't see any freakin' way that this could be done and still be in compliance with the GPL. Sure, I've fantasized in the past about how M$ could develop a proprietary shell to run on top of Gnu/Linux. The more knowledgeable I've become the more that seems impossible. What you're smokin' -- Hey, I want some!! ;-) Don K. PS: My apologies if this thread gets hijacked. However, since the post immediately preceding is the post that has the reference I would prefer to respond here. |
| sridevis3 Aug 31, 2006 8:19 PM EDT |
I am not talking abt clippy here... I want agent characters like "Genie", "Merlin"... and APIs to use them from any application. We developed Java based Text-to-Speech(TTS) for Indian languages. http://www.ncb.ernet.in/matrubhasha We created an application for school children using TTS to teach languages. Instead of teacher, Microsoft Agent characters will come and teach them. Since we can't run this on Linux. We would like to know how to create such agent characters in linux? |
| jimf Aug 31, 2006 8:49 PM EDT |
> I am not talking abt clippy here... Aww, ya don't like clippy ;-) |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 31, 2006 10:13 PM EDT |
There are no such agents for Linux. From the description of the MS agent page it looks like a small character sitting on your desktop. I suggest you read through the Gnome and/or KDE API's for "applets". Applets are little programs that sit on your desktop, like weather forecasters, fancy clocks, news and stock tickers, etcetera. There might even be a cross-desktop (Gnome, KDE, etcetera) applet library, but I know of no such thing (I never use or write applets). |
| jimf Aug 31, 2006 10:59 PM EDT |
> Microsoft Agent characters will come and teach them. MS 'BOB' clones in Linux. I'm sorry, but to me that concept sucks... For kids or anyone else. |
| sridevis3 Aug 31, 2006 11:36 PM EDT |
Thanks Mr/Ms. Sander! To Mr/Ms. jimf, What's wrong in creating such characters in linux and giving such apis when it is not currently available. It will be an added feature for linux than saying it is not available in linux. S Sridevi |
| jimf Aug 31, 2006 11:42 PM EDT |
sridevis3, Fine, feed your kids as you will, just keep those things away from mine ;-) |
| dinotrac Sep 01, 2006 3:06 AM EDT |
sridevis3 - Don't let small minds impede your efforts to educate small minds. Bob failed because it was a mess upon a mess at a time when computer power was a fraction of what it is today. I think the idea was sound if executed properly on hardware that can run it and aimed at the right audience. |
| jimf Sep 01, 2006 8:05 AM EDT |
> Bob failed because it was a mess upon a mess at a time when computer power was a fraction of what it is today. Oh give me a break dino... Bob failed because it was a mess upon a mess 'period'. The whole concept needs to be tossed in the trash. Let's come up with some original thinking on this rather than rehashed microthink. |
| SFN Sep 01, 2006 8:08 AM EDT |
I have to agree - to an extent. I mean if someone wants a Bob-like piece, let them have it. If someone wants a little applet that pops up every 15 minutes and shows them pictures veal cutlets, let them have that too. But lets' face it Bob, like the veal cutlet browser, is a dumb idea. |
| dinotrac Sep 01, 2006 8:21 AM EDT |
jimf - Any kids? I'm a little kinder towards the Bob idea after watching my girls interact wit h the computer, especially when they were younger. They loved it when I put on the stupid little kitty that would follow the curser. Absolutely most incredible -- you have to see them use it to believe it -- young child's linux game? Believe it or not, and I still have trouble, ktuberling, the KDE Potato Guy. It's different world for the wee folk. |
| jimf Sep 01, 2006 8:33 AM EDT |
> It's different world for the wee folk. Sure, and I have no problem with that sort of thing 'in a game'. |
| jdixon Sep 01, 2006 8:34 AM EDT |
> They loved it when I put on the stupid little kitty that would follow the curser. Neko rules. :) |
| number6x Sep 01, 2006 9:14 AM EDT |
Many children's games implement this kind of functionality on a game by game basis. The applet idea is a good one. If you code it in QT or GTK it should be usable in all desktops. I would look at leveraging the existing help and baloon dialogs, then launching the 'agent' instead of a help baloon. Launch agent on mouse over and load with a script specific to whatever the mouse was hovering over. For web based apps, java has a great deal of support for animated graphics, tie this to mouse and keyboard input, and you have an agent. If you write it for a specific desktop like kde or gnome, it will be hard to port. If you use Qt or gtk it will run on all Linux, BSD, Macs, Windows, Solaris, etc. |
| SFN Sep 01, 2006 10:23 AM EDT |
Perhaps have it respond to voice commands so that the first time it comes up, I can scream "Oh, F*$% OFF!!!!!!" and it will uninstall itself. |
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