Bots are conversational agents are they are meant to help users to complete a particular task. There are not new and they are not specific to Microsoft. The user doesn’t need to have an application or to go to a specific Web site and he can provide information directly to the bots.
Why Microsoft just made a big bet on bots
Satya Nadella thinks that bots are a simple concept with a profound impact. Microsoft hopes that boots become the next major computing platform even if for now the consumer interest is not overwhelming. Bots are cataloged as the website builder of the future. Some startups are already creating bots, Google tried to buy Chatfuel and Facebook is expected to open Facebook Messenger to third-party bots. Microsoft will make easier for developers to write bots in Windows and run them on the Azure.
To get started you will need a Microsoft account.
Microsoft Bot Framework contains Bot Connector, Bot Builder SDK and Bot Directory.
Bot Connector allows you to register, connect and publish the bots to services like text/sms, Office 365 mail, Skype, Slack and others.
Bot Builder SDK will provide anything you need to build great dialogs within your bot. For C# you can get started from docs.botframework.com/sdkreference/csharp/.
The Bot Directory is a public directory of all approved bots registered through the Bot Connector.