We reported a few days back about Tbot getting its own Run time Environment. In that article it’s also mentioned that an Alpha test period would start soon. Well, that soon has come:

We’re ready to start the Alpha Test program for the new prototype of the bot. This new version will help us keep the services running while our team finalizes the new infrastructure required to run TBot 2.

Even though it is designed to handle much more traffic than the first version of the bot, don’t expect it to be as fast or stable as the current Live Agents version. It’s a prototype after all. Besides this announcement, Helvecio also points out the differences between TBot and TBot 2 Alpha:

– TBot salutes you automatically without you having to type anything. TBot 2 Alpha requires a first message.
– TBot 2 Alpha does not have a display picture
– TBot 2 Alpha supports language auto detect as source language
– TBot 2 Alpha support any-to-any translations
– TBot’s “tbot stop” command just halted the translation; TBot 2 Alpha’s implementation kicks the bot out of the session (just like how “bot*bye” used to work)
– TBot 2 Alpha does not implement “tbot start”
– TBot 2 Alpha supports Polish (however the dialog messages are not perfect)
– TBot 2 Alpha restricts the use of the special commands – only the person that started the conversation can change languages.

So how do you use this bot? Simply add TBot 2 Alpha to your contact list, invite it into your conversation (or start a conversation with the bot itself, you can always invite your friends in later if you want), select the languages and go:

Not happy with the language pair? Type “tbot change” to change it.

Happy testing! Oh, and don’t forget to let Helvecio know about your results! You can do so by commenting on on his post.