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I sure hope they bring back an elderly Microsoft Bob as a greeter for my computer when it boots up.

Yes. As recently as 1995. Let me introduce you to Bob here and here

Also, they are now making
Tiger killer, aka 'WinTiger'
Linu^H^H^H^H^Cancer killer aka ' Herceptin '

Anyway, there are other good reasons to do open source.

To avoid things like this.

"other succesful Microsoft products.

That looks really useful. I might finally be able to replace my horribly non-user-friendly Palm Desktop with something a little less intuitive. Please help me get this software!

Seriously tho, are there any copies of Bob still floating around?

Well, sometimes business looks positively scary from an open source perspective.

Maybe these perspectives can meet somewhere in the middle and learn how to make things more efficient and better for everyone, including the customers, employees and business owners.

Most open source advocates were customers, employees or businesses owners once upon a time. But now they are scary...

Are they scary because they have long hair and a beard? Or are they scary because its hard to find RedHat's Linux distribution? Or are they scary because RedCarpet no longer exists? Or are they scary because successful business models never produce bad software.

Or maybe its a good thing open source doesn't come with beef.

There already was a Microsoft Bob...
and it was deamed creepy

So, can you SPOT BOB with it? Maybe Spot and Bob can play together, because I want nothing to do with either of them.

See once again Bill Gates was right.

If only we'd all been happy with 640kb there would be far fewer places for potential buffer overflows in Microsoft applications.

But, oh no, we insisted on colour and sound and Bob - okay perhaps not that last one; each guzzling Megabytes of RAM, and look where that has led us!

Best wishes,
Mike.

I think I'll just go back to MS Bob.

oh, you are so forgetting microsoft bob.

Dear Microsoft SQL Server Customer:

On February 20 2003, Microsoft entered into a settlement agreement with Timeline Inc. regarding certain intellectual properties of Timeline and licensing matters associated with Microsoft's use of Timeline technology in its SQL Server system.

Pursuant to the collective agreement between Microsoft and Timeline, Microsoft recognizes that while it had purchased a right to use the Timeline technologies in its SQL Server system, end-users of the respective technology were not licensed to do so, and would be liable for the purchase of such licensed use directly with Timeline Inc.

In order to provide our customers with a cost-effective alternative to licensing of Timeline Inc technology, Microsoft is pleased to announce that it is making its powerful, internally developed database technology available for immediate download. This product, Microsoft DataBOB, includes:

- a powerful database capable of listing your favorite contacts
- a GUI administration console that can be learned in minutes by your developers and follows a unique interface concept
- helpful wizards and assistants that make use of DataBOB possible by even clerical employees

We're confident you'll find DataBOB not only very useful, but will recognize its value in reducing your information technology costs as even the most novice computer users will find DataBOB simple and straight forward in application.

In order to obtain your license, see an authorized DataBob distributor today.

http://www.telecommander.com/pics/links/applicatio n%20software/microsoft/Microsoft_Bob_1_0/Microsoft _Bob_1_0.htm

Do you think there is any chance Microsoft could release GNU/Linux or GNU/Hurd version of Microsoft Bob in a form of X11 window manager? It has very low system requirements (80486, 8MB RAM, 32MB HD) which makes it perfect for teaching kids the basics of computer usage (together with such projects like Debian Junior, GNU and Education, LinuxForKids, SEUL/edu, etc.) on low-end PC hardware. Some time ago, I was looking for a good window manager/desktop environment and, while there are many good applications, I couldn't find any graphical user interface itself, which would be similar to Microsoft Bob. What I need is not only something easy to learn, but also actually fun to play with, so the kids will want to learn the basics of computer science. Do you know any projects, which I could use here? (Free software would be the best.) Thanks.

Do you think I can get "BOB" to run on the TabletPC? Were they showing that in Atlanta?

But you forgot the very innovative Microsoft Bob!

-- iCEBaLM

Based upon what I'm hearing from my contacts in the USN, Microsoft Bob will survive the chopping block and, is in fact, the key component to the new Navy Intranet.

Admit it! You're Microsoft's Bob!

Come again?

Sure. You think they'd steal the bad stuff from Apple and IBM? What? You don't like paperclips? C'mon, I had to give MS a point of two in their favor for something.

BTW, remember MS BOB? Melinda (as in Bill's wife) was project lead for BOB before they were married. And when it got canned, the little dog had some friends made for him and Office got usability. Amazing what a little pillow talk to can do to a project's design goals...

-B

Windows 3
Windows 3.1
Windows 3.11
Windows NT 3.5
Windows NT 3.51
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 95
Windows 98
and
Windows 2000

Aieee.... how could you forget about the flagship stamp: Bob?

I can think of no better stamp to use on any "cancellation of service" letter to MS than Bill Gates' alter ego =)

Reminds me of something Microsoft once did.