What is "Microsoft Agent"?
Microsoft® Agent is a set of programmable software services that supports the presentation of interactive animated characters within the Microsoft Windows® interface. Developers can use characters as interactive assistants to introduce, guide, entertain, or otherwise enhance their Web pages or applications. Microsoft Agent enables software developers and Web authors to incorporate a new form of user interaction, known as conversational interfaces, that leverages natural aspects of human social communication. In addition to mouse and keyboard input, Microsoft Agent includes optional support for speech recognition so applications can respond to voice commands. Characters can respond using synthesized speech, recorded audio, or text in a cartoon word balloon. What is a "Ring"? A Ring is collection of web sites that have a similar interest linked together in a ring. Links on each web site in the ring (like those shown below) allow ring surfers (that's you!) to move from one web site to the next, eventually traversing the entire ring and ending up where they started. There are thousands of rings in existence today covering nearly every topic imaginable