Microsoft buys into 'bots'

Microsoft said on Thursday that it's buying Colloquis, a maker of natural language-processing technology used to provide automated customer assistance.

The software maker said it will use Colloquis' technology to offer a managed service called Windows Live Service Agents. The service will be based on the Colloquis' existing technology, which has been used by Cingular Wireless, Comcast, Panasonic, Cox Communications and others. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.