Merlin

Merlin is the Microsoft Agent character created by the Microsoft Corporation. He is the magical wizard and lives in King Arthur's castle. First released in 1997, he appeared as a blue-robed wizard with a long white beard and was designed to assist users with computer tasks through an animated interface.

History and Development[]

Merlin was part of the initial lineup of Microsoft Agent characters, alongside Peedy (a parrot), Genie (a genie), and Robby (a robot). These characters were developed as part of Microsoft's effort to create more intuitive and user-friendly interfaces for computer users, especially beginners.

The technology behind Microsoft Agent evolved from earlier work on social interfaces at Stanford's Center for the Study of Language and Information, under researchers Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves. This research influenced Microsoft's approach to creating interactive character technology, which was first introduced in Microsoft Bob under the internal name "Microsoft Actor."

Tandy Trower later led the development of Microsoft Agent as a more flexible technology that third-party developers could incorporate into their applications and websites. Unlike the Office Assistant (commonly known as "Clippy"), the Microsoft Agent characters were designed to be more customizable and less intrusive.

Features and Functionality[]

Merlin was programmed with numerous animations that allowed him to perform a variety of actions on screen, including:

Greeting users
Providing information
Demonstrating software features
Responding to user inputs
Expressing emotions through gestures and movements

As a Microsoft Agent character, Merlin could be controlled through programming interfaces and used in software applications, websites (using Internet Explorer), and various Windows utilities. He supported text-to-speech capabilities and could respond to voice commands when used with compatible speech recognition software.

Merlin's character was portrayed as wise and magical, with his introductory phrase being: "I am your wise and magical companion. When you need assistance, summon me for a demonstration of my awesome, cyber-magical powers."

Connection to Arthurian Legend[]

Microsoft intentionally designed Merlin to evoke the famous wizard from Arthurian legend. According to his official backstory, Merlin lives in King Arthur's castle, directly connecting him to the mythological narrative. This choice was strategic, leveraging cultural familiarity with Merlin as King Arthur's wise, magical advisor to position the digital assistant as a knowledgeable guide for computer users.

His visual design — featuring a blue robe, long white beard, and wizardly appearance — was crafted to match the traditional imagery associated with the legendary character. Even his introduction line referring to his "cyber-magical powers" was a modern technological adaptation of the magical abilities attributed to the Arthurian Merlin.

This character choice aligned with Microsoft's broader strategy of using familiar archetypes (a wizard, a genie, a parrot, and a robot) to make computer interaction feel more approachable and friendly to users who might be intimidated by technology. By drawing on the cultural association of Merlin as a helpful, wise mentor figure, Microsoft aimed to create a digital assistant that would be immediately understood as a guide and helper.

Appearances[]

Merlin appeared in:

Windows 2000
Windows XP (as an optional search assistant)
Various third-party applications utilizing Microsoft Agent technology
Windows Vista (using SAPI 5.3 for text-to-speech)
Windows 7 (available as an optional download package after customer feedback)

Interestingly, Merlin was originally considered for the role of Windows XP Installation Guide Agent, but Microsoft ultimately chose to use a character called "Questiony the question mark" instead.

In the Russian version of Windows XP, Merlin was simply called "Маг" (Wizard) rather than using his English name.

Technical Details[]

The Microsoft Agent Merlin character was stored in a file named "Merlin.acs." The character utilized its own color table to display unique colors, giving him a higher quality appearance. His animations were programmed to transition smoothly between states, with specific animations for showing, speaking, listening, and performing various actions.

Developers could access Merlin's capabilities through the Microsoft Agent ActiveX control, which exposed methods for playing animations, speaking text, and responding to user interactions. His animations could be accessed through programming interfaces like the Microsoft Agent Server Interface and the Microsoft Agent Control.

Some versions of Merlin included sound effects that would play during certain animations if this option was enabled in the Microsoft Agent property sheet.

Fact[]

Merlin supports the animations listed in the table below. Refer to Programming the Microsoft Agent Server Interface and Programming the Microsoft Agent Control for information on how to call the character's animations.