Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Bots for MSN Messenger are computers that answer questions that you send to them via MSN Messenger.  For example: 

 

Ever wanted to ask Encarta a question and have it look it up for you?

…add encarta@conversagent.com to your contact list in MSN Messenger.

 

This is called "Encarta Instant Answers" and it allows you to ask questions of Encarta like “What’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything?” and other off-the-wall questions.  It’s often even sarcastic and funny and it will even point you to the appropriate online reference in Encarta by extending the MSN Messenger window.  (Remember that this is a beta and it’s not totally there yet so it doesn’t answer some basic questions yet however it’s a work in progress so don’t go being too critical of it just yet.)