Earl (Search Assistant)
- For other uses, see Earl.
 | |
| Name | Earl |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Microsoft Corporation |
| Initial release | 2001 |
| Description | Catch a wave with Earl. He'll help you find what you need. |
| Extra data | Surf's up. Let's ride! |
| Animations | 47 |
| TTS voice | Adult Female #1, American English (TruVoice) |
| Download | https://tmafe.com/classic-ms-agents/earl.acs |
Earl is a Microsoft Agent character that comes bundled with Windows XP developed by Microsoft Corporation. Earl was used for Windows XP's search, where the user would tell him what the user was searching for and have Earl pull up the search results. His appearance is a yellow creature with a purple surfboard wearing a life vest and a blue beanie.
Use in Windows XP search
Earl is one of the new search assistants created for Windows XP. Inside the Windows XP search, the assistant provides six options for the user, including:
- Pictures, music, or video
- Documents (word processing, spreadsheet, etc.)
- All files and folders
- Computers or people
- Information in Help and Support Center
- Search the Internet
The user may right-click on Earl to get the assistant to "Do a trick", which plays a random animation from Rover or another assistant if selected. The end user may also turn off Earl or select another animated character in the right-click menu. When the user finishes their search, the user may click "Finish search" which hides Earl until the search menu is re-opened.
Character data
| Character data for Earl | |
|---|---|
| File name: | Earl.acs |
| Description: | Catch a wave with Earl. He'll help you find what you need. |
| Extra data: | Surf's up. Let's ride! |
| File size: | 1.44 MB |
| Animations: | 47 |
| TTS voice: | Adult Female #1, American English (TruVoice) |
| GUID: | {1933FD1F-CBBA-11D0-8539-00C04FD90F73} |
| TTSMode ID: | {CA141FD0-AC7F-11D1-97A3-006008273008} |
| TTS speed: | 149 |
| TTS pitch: | 152 |
| Width: | 80px |
| Length: | 80px |
Gallery
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The default animation frame of Earl. -
The color table used by the Earl character. -
All animations inside of Earl.acs.
Trivia
- Earl was created in 2001, making him one of the most recent Microsoft Agent characters to be developed by Microsoft.
- Despite the character being male, he uses Adult Female #1 as his text-to-speech voice rather than any of the Adult Male voices.
- Ironically, there is a Macintosh-exclusive Microsoft Actor assistant of the same name, but is an entirely different character from Earl.
- As with most classical Microsoft Agents, he has his own color table to utilize multiple unique colors to make the character seem higher quality.
- Strangely, only a few of his animations have proper lip sync in them.