Intelligent software: easing the burdens that computers put on people

Computers currently respond only to what interface designers call direct manipulation. Nothing happens unless a person gives commands from a keyboard, mouse or touch screen. The computer is merely a passive entity waiting to execute specific, highly detailed instructions: it provides little help for complex tasks or for carrying out actions (such as searches for information) that may take an indefinite time. If untrained consumers are to employ future computers and networks effectively, direct manipulation will have to give way to some form of delegation. Researchers and software companies have set high hopes on so called software agents, which "know" users' interests and can act autonomously on their behalf. This change in functionality will most likely go hand in hand with a change in the physical ways people interact with computers, Rather than manipulating a keyboard and mouse, people will speak to agents or gesture at things that need doing. In response, agents will appear as "living" entities on the screen, conveying their current state and behavior with animated facial expressions or body language rather than windows with text, graphs, and figures.