Interactive assistants provide ease of use for novices: the development of prototypes and descendants

摘要

The purpose of this article is to relate early software development features, such as Microsoft Bob's “interactive assistants,” to the new software products on the market today that feature “intelligent, interactive assistants” and enhanced help features. Also, the role of training with intelligent software in the business and academic settings will be explored. This article is emphatically not meant to promote any singular software product or manufacturer, merely to analyze and discuss new and effective features of software, how they developed, and their impact on human users from a practical, rather than empirical, standpoint.