                               AniMess

Status
------
AniMess is at version 0.34 (Beta) and is currently Freeware.
The complete package may be freely distributed.
 
Function
--------
AniMess has three areas of functionality all of which can utilise Microsoft's Agent technology for 
animation and text to speech synthesis. (http://microsoft.com/workshop/c-
frame.htm#/workshop/imedia/agent/default.asp)

1. Provides for real-time sending of animated messages directly to machines also running 
AniMess. Messages may be sent with the following destination configurations

  a) source to single destination
  b) source to multiple destinations arriving simultaneously, word by word.
  c) source to multiple destinations arriving consecutively, so that each recipient gets
     consecutive words.

(a and b provide possible scenarios for having fun or for creating attractive shop-floor 
merchandise demonstrations.)

2. Processes email on POP3, Outlook, MailCity and HotMail systems with audio and
visual notification.

3. A text reader
 
Setup
-----
For the network features the network must be TCP/IP.

If you obtained this distribution from Simtel or some other site where the distribution does not include 
the VB6 run-time modules, you will need to obtain them in addition to the software described below. 

The required VB6 modules can be found at ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/dll/simvb6-2.zip

For AniMess to use the Agent technology (animation and speech) the following MS products, (all of 
which are available from www.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/agent/agentdl.asp) are required:

The Agent core

The Lernout and Herspie text to speech engine

And at least one agent character file

Once these three items have been downloaded and installed, you are ready to take advantage of all of 
AniMess' capabilities.

Unzip AniMess and run Setup.exe

Changes
-------
Fixes to reflect the changes at MailCity and HotMail
Added trace facilitity for debugging

Other Products
--------------
WebbyPOP provides a POP3/SMTP interface to MailCity & HotMail servers. Eudora, Outlook Express etc can be 
used with MailCity and HotMail accounts.

WebbyPOP is available from the aothors web site.

Contact
-------
Bob Nicholls
Bob.nicholls@mailcity.com
http://jump.to/bob_nicholls   (check here for the latest news on new versions)

Disclaimer
----------
As usual with freeware and shareware, user beware. The author takes no responsibility for any negative 
effects caused to animate or inanimate objects from the use of this software.

