<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
was	O
a	O
technology	O
developed	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
which	O
employed	O
animated	O
characters	O
,	O
text-to-speech	B-Application
engines	O
,	O
and	O
speech	B-Application
recognition	I-Application
software	I-Application
to	O
enhance	O
interaction	O
with	O
computer	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
it	O
was	O
an	O
example	O
of	O
an	O
embodied	B-General_Concept
agent	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
came	O
preinstalled	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
Windows	B-Device
98	I-Device
through	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
not	O
included	O
with	O
Windows	B-Device
7	I-Device
but	O
can	O
be	O
downloaded	O
from	O
Microsoft	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
functionality	O
was	O
exposed	O
as	O
an	O
ActiveX	B-Application
control	I-Application
that	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
web	O
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interactive	O
character	O
technology	O
was	O
first	O
introduced	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Bob	I-Application
,	O
which	O
used	O
an	O
early	O
version	O
of	O
Agent	O
technology	O
internally	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
"	O
Microsoft	O
Actor.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
the	O
code	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
initial	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
Office	B-General_Concept
Assistant	I-General_Concept
in	O
Office	O
97	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
was	O
subsequently	O
created	O
by	O
Tandy	O
Trower	O
in	O
an	O
attempt	O
to	O
offer	O
technology	O
that	O
was	O
more	O
flexible	O
and	O
available	O
to	O
third-party	O
developers	O
to	O
include	O
in	O
their	O
applications	O
and	O
web	O
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
replaced	O
the	O
original	O
Microsoft	O
Actor	O
code	O
in	O
Office	O
2000	O
,	O
although	O
this	O
use	O
did	O
not	O
include	O
Agent	O
's	O
much-touted	O
speech	B-Application
synthesis	I-Application
or	O
recognition	B-Application
capabilities	O
or	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
four	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
the	O
Office	O
team	O
created	O
their	O
own	O
characters	O
including	O
one	O
dubbed	O
"	O
Clippit	B-General_Concept
"	O
or	O
"	O
Clippy	B-General_Concept
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
current	O
version	O
of	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
was	O
quietly	O
released	O
on	O
MSDN	O
in	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
characters	O
are	O
stored	O
in	O
files	O
of	O
the	O
.ACS	O
extension	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
stored	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
compressed	O
.ACF	O
files	O
for	O
better	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
distribution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
Office	O
97	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Bob	I-Application
Actor	O
characters	O
are	O
stored	O
in	O
files	O
of	O
the	O
.ACT	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
character	O
definition	O
files	O
are	O
stored	O
in	O
files	O
of	O
the	O
.ACD	O
file	O
extension	O
,	O
and	O
are	O
generated	O
by	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
Character	O
Editor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
speech	O
engine	O
itself	O
is	O
driven	O
by	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Speech	I-Application
API	I-Application
(	O
SAPI	O
)	O
,	O
version	O
4	O
and	O
above	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
SAPI	I-Application
provides	O
a	O
control	O
panel	O
for	O
easily	O
installing	O
and	O
switching	O
between	O
various	O
available	O
Text	B-Application
to	I-Application
Speech	I-Application
and	O
Speech	B-Application
to	I-Application
Text	I-Application
engines	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
voice	O
training	O
and	O
scoring	O
systems	O
to	O
improve	O
the	O
quality	O
and	O
accuracy	O
of	O
both	O
engines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
provides	O
four	O
agent	O
characters	O
for	O
free	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
downloaded	O
from	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
website	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
are	O
called	O
Peedy	B-Application
,	O
Merlin	O
,	O
Genie	O
,	O
and	O
Robby	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
characters	O
also	O
shipped	O
with	O
Microsoft	O
Office	O
up	O
to	O
version	O
2003	O
as	O
the	O
Office	B-General_Concept
Assistants	I-General_Concept
and	O
with	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
as	O
search	O
assistants	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Agents	O
can	O
be	O
embedded	O
in	O
software	O
with	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
for	I-Language
Applications	I-Language
and	O
in	O
web	O
pages	O
with	O
VBScript	B-Application
,	O
and	O
automated	O
tools	O
for	O
the	O
purpose	O
of	O
simplifying	O
this	O
exist	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
web	O
page	O
agents	O
are	O
only	O
compatible	O
with	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
,	O
since	O
alternative	O
browsers	O
like	O
Opera	B-Application
or	O
Mozilla	B-Application
Firefox	I-Application
do	O
not	O
support	O
ActiveX	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
users	O
of	O
Windows	B-Device
Me	I-Device
,	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
,	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
and	O
later	O
or	O
owners	O
of	O
Microsoft	O
Office	O
2000	O
and	O
later	O
are	O
the	O
only	O
ones	O
who	O
have	O
Agent	O
software	O
pre-loaded	O
on	O
their	O
computers	O
;	O
others	O
have	O
to	O
download	O
the	O
software	O
and	O
install	O
it	O
manually	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
uses	O
Speech	B-Application
API	I-Application
(	O
SAPI	O
)	O
version	O
5.3	O
as	O
its	O
primary	O
text-to-speech	B-Application
provider	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
In	O
previous	O
versions	O
of	O
Windows	O
,	O
Agent	O
uses	O
SAPI	O
version	O
4	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
not	O
supported	O
in	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
and	O
later	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Beginning	O
with	O
Vista	B-Application
,	O
multilingual	O
features	O
of	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
under	O
a	O
particular	O
language	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
OS	O
are	O
not	O
supported	O
;	O
that	O
is	O
,	O
Agent	O
will	O
function	O
in	O
other	O
languages	O
only	O
under	O
a	O
localized	O
Windows	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
announced	O
in	O
April	O
2009	O
that	O
all	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
development	O
and	O
support	O
will	O
be	O
discontinued	O
with	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Windows	B-Device
7	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
due	O
to	O
customer	O
feedback	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
has	O
provided	O
an	O
installation	O
package	O
of	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Agent	I-Application
core	O
components	O
for	O
use	O
on	O
Windows	B-Device
7	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
download	O
supports	O
SAPI	O
5.3	O
compatible	O
speech	O
engines	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
contains	O
the	O
character	O
“	O
Merlin	O
”	O
,	O
which	O
shipped	O
with	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
.	O
</s>
