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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Koligman who wrote (40084)	12/15/1998 6:40:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Tuesday December 15, 6:07 pm Eastern Time Dell Computer Web site to offer "plain English" support BERKELEY, Calif., Dec 15 (Reuters) - Internet software company Ask Jeeves said Tuesday it entered an agreement for Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq:DELL - news) to use its ''plain English'' question-and-answer systems on its customer support Web site. The service simplifies navigation around Dell's 45,000 page Web site by letting visitors ask questions in plain English and receive direct links to answers. The system is updated daily, enabling Dell to get a better sense for commonly asked questions and adjust its database of answers accordingly. Ask Jeeves, which operates its own question and answer Web site (www.ask.com), has similar agreements with Netscape Computer Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP - news) and Compaq Computer Corp.'s (NYSE:CPQ - news) Alta Vista Internet site. But it said the agreement with Dell is by far its biggest to date. The question-and-answer system works via a software that ''parses'' questions to separate nouns from verbs and other kinds of words so the computer can better understand the question's meaning. Ask Jeeves says that enabling computers to understand plain written English is a first step in making them understand the spoken word. (Andrea Orr, Palo Alto newsroom (650) 846-5400)