Bot and CaaP (Conversation as a Platform) momentum continues at Microsoft. Recently we had a fantastic hack with the super talented folks at Kik and learned a ton. We’ve been working with the Kik team very closely to add the Kik channel to Microsoft Bot Framework. As you see in Ivar Chan’s (Partner Success, Kik Interactive Inc.) blog post, the Kik channel is now live.
The collaboration with Kik has been terrific, and was in part a result of a somewhat impromptu gathering of folks within the industry working on bots that occurred in early April, soon after the Build conference, where we unveiled Bot Framework. In attendance were many of the usual bot suspects – folks from companies and organizations ranging from Slack to Uber to O’Reilly and more. We found that in addition to being excited about bots we all shared many common interests and concerns and decided to regroup in a couple of months to keep the conversation going, so to speak.
That conversation will continue at Botness, a two-day gathering in San Francisco on June 13-14 2016, at PCH/Highway1. We’ll discuss all things bots: design, tools, and what makes for great dialog among different audiences. Organized by Howdy, Slack, Kik, Uber, Highway 1, Betaworks and Microsoft, among others, the Botness event provides a forum to help shape and evolve the ecosystem that’s forming rapidly around conversational interfaces. If you’d like to join, request an invitation (space limited).
Happy making!
Lili Cheng from the Bot Framework Team
Vision Bot in action on Kik
