Future Space Station Constructed by Robots
(NASA Photo No:SS-032CD1664-033)
The following sections are intended to give you a flavor of the types of things and the directions that Amblit Technologies is pursuing. They do NOT represent a commitment on our part as to what is going to be in the next release or the release after. In some cases, though, the work has been completed or is in test. Or, we have a working prototype, and are deciding whether to incorporate it or a derivative of the prototype into the product.
Our users, customers and partners influence the direction that we go and the emphasis that we have. We are striving to be a customer driven company that meets the needs of our customer population. Our balancing act occurs when prioritizing the needs of our current customers with those of the new. The bottom line is: we want your feedback.. good, bad or indifferent.
Language Recognition
There are five (5) medium level enhancements that have been identified for the language recognition system. Most of the benefit will be for the developer in terms of more accurately and easily representing the allowable and preferred user interactions. But, one of the enhancements will make it simple to define multiple-case, regular expressions in a single statement. As this enhancement is deployed through the various service files, the number of sentence patterns recognized will increase by at least an order of magnitude.
New Services
There are many new services under consideration. We have been introducing several new services each month. Sometime in the near future we will offer our first premium service that utilizes a for-pay web site. As we will fill out our current service categories, we will start new ones. If you have strong desires for a service or a new category, please let us know.
Content & Navigation Management
The following two items are very specific to the current release of Amblit Navigator… If you are not a current user, neither item may mean much to you…
Semantic Agent Integration: Currently the Semantic Agent cannot read or write from the desktop containers. If a user asks his Agent to search his containers for some information, the Agent currently does not have any access. We intend to remedy that in a future release.
Multi-Document Interface: In the current version, only a single note can be open on the desktop at one time. While that note is open, no other Navigator function can be performed. In a future release this will change and it will be possible to have multiple notes open, copying and pasting between them, while running other Navigator operations simultaneously.
New Service Categories
Microsoft Outlook Integration: We are already testing our integration with Microsoft Outlook. A user will be able to access his home and work Outlooks, keeping the contents separate, but being able to access them as if they were one. This functionality has been strongly requested by sales persons.
Groupware: We have begun work on ‘shareable containers’ where a container is defined on multiple desktops. A container is a Navigator storage type. As entries are added and deleted from one container, the same modifications are made to all containers that are part of the share. One of the key requirements for our implementation is that the individual computers systems will not need to be connected to stay synchronized. But, a user will need to connect to his personal agent to synchronize.
Microsoft Office Integration: We have also begun the integration of the Microsoft Office programs. The user will be able tor control some of the key program operations, and transfer data into and out of the programs through Amblit Navigator.
New Platforms…
We continue to receive requests for an Apple Macintosh OS 9 and OS X version of Amblit Navigator, primarily for the educational market. While we have key personnel who have extensive Macintosh development experience (e.g., past Apple Partners) and a working lab version of an Integrated Request and Response Window, we have decided not to pursue the development and marketing effort without direct third party support.
While our primary server platforms are RedHat Linux 7.3, we also have lab versions running on Windows NT, 2000 and XP.
New Functionality
Request Scheduling: Some user requested tasks need to be run periodically. With the introduction of user messaging it will be possible to enable work task scheduling, thereby enabling the user to perform task at either specific times or on a repetitive basis.