7. In a computer system, a method for managing a dialog between a computer and a user of the computer, the computer having an audio input device and an audio output device, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: asynchrously receiving at the computer through the audio input device spoken input from the user; interpreting the spoken input using a reasoning facility which enables the spoken input to include questions by the user; as a result of the interpreting, generating responses by the computer in response to the spoken input; placing the generated responses in a speak queue the responses including responses that can be spoken by a text to speech device; using dialog context information held in a context priority queue, tracking state of a dialog, responses in the speak queue having corresponding contexts held in the context priority queue; and based on dialog state, managing audible rendering of the responses held in the speak queue through the audio output device, ordering the audible rendering of the responses according to corresponding contexts in the context priority queue so that the user receives each response as part of an asynchronous dialog between the computer and the user, the asynchronous dialog conducted in a polite non-interruptive manner that is subject to control by the user including allowing the user to change subjects and allowing the user to interrupt the asynchronous dialog but not allowing the audible rendering of a response to interrupt the user.
7. In a computer system, a method for managing a dialog between a computer and a user of the computer, the computer having an audio input device and an audio output device, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: asynchrously receiving at the computer through the audio input device spoken input from the user; interpreting the spoken input using a reasoning facility which enables the spoken input to include questions by the user; as a result of the interpreting, generating responses by the computer in response to the spoken input; placing the generated responses in a speak queue the responses including responses that can be spoken by a text to speech device; using dialog context information held in a context priority queue, tracking state of a dialog, responses in the speak queue having corresponding contexts held in the context priority queue; and based on dialog state, managing audible rendering of the responses held in the speak queue through the audio output device, ordering the audible rendering of the responses according to corresponding contexts in the context priority queue so that the user receives each response as part of an asynchronous dialog between the computer and the user, the asynchronous dialog conducted in a polite non-interruptive manner that is subject to control by the user including allowing the user to change subjects and allowing the user to interrupt the asynchronous dialog but not allowing the audible rendering of a response to interrupt the user. 11. In a computer system, the method of claim 7 wherein the step of managing the audible rendering of the responses is based on dialog states that specify the current state of the dialog between the computer and the user.