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15 Years of Microsoft Bob
harrymcc writes "Microsoft Bob — still synonymous in the tech industry with 'embarrassing flop' — shipped fifteen years ago this week, on March 31st, 1995. When the Windows interface featuring animated cartoon helpers was announced, it was hyped to the heavens and briefly accepted as a breakthrough that showed where software was going. Instead, dismal reviews and poor sales killed it after only a year on the market. At Technologizer, we're marking the anniversary with a complete look at how it came to be and why it failed so resoundingly — and how Microsoft tried again with Office's 'Clippy' and other attempts to revive the basic idea."
And to think, I was *this* close to actually forgetting about this miserable piece of shit.
Thanks, Slashdot. \:
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
Leave BOB alone, you meanies!
...Oh yeah. I always wondered what the heck everyone was talking about.....
I enjoyed Microsoft Bob very much, as a child. The post-modern room was amazing. I spent hours playing around with that program, so it has sentimental value to me you insensitive clod.
So anyone no if the quote is by the local handlers, or is it the torture of the day? Makes you feel nice and warm inside these saves get paid to torture american citizens.
Bullshit technology is defined as tech that appears to be doing something useful but you end up wasting more time with it than you'd ever save.
BOB is bullshit technology. Voice recognition for the longest time has been bullshit. It's rapidly becoming more useful. Blackberries and the like for business needs can be useful but often becomes bullshit technology when people use them ineffectively.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
he (they) went on to a great career as a downsizing consultants. If you ever hear about a "meeting with the Bobs", better get your resume ready.
Sorry about the mess.
I think the problem with Clippy was that he was ten years too early. If the little fellow was around today he wouldn't get nearly as much abuse. People are more used to the wizard idea now, and to being guided through tasks.
Back then the average user was (I suspect) more technically knowledgeable - the PC as appliance wasn't entrenched. So everybody felt a little insulted when Clippy stuck his nose in their work.
So yes, my mom liked Clippy. If you actually needed his help he was reasonably helpful.
How did she meet Bill?
She was Unit Manager for Microsoft Bob...
Test your net with Netalyzr
We have BOB in a VM, and even running on todays kick-ass hardware, it's still un-usable, and slow...
Makes me want HDOS back..
Is he any relation to Baghdad Bob?
Baghdad Bob: "No, there are no allied tanks rolling through Baghdad."
*background shows tanks rolling through Baghdad*
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
Being on the Microsoft Bob team worked out pretty well for project manager Melinda French.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
I read the article, nice step back in time, but other then a simple "I think it felt like it didn't treat the user maturely" no other reason are given to why it failed.
It would have been interesting if MS Bob was implemented on Windows NT, particularly because of the multi-user and security features.
Bob is turning Artificial Intelligence into Annoying Inconvience ;-p
Comment removed based on user account deletion
From the article "Bob isn’t meant for the initiated. It’s designed for the millions of people who, each year, will start to use computers for the first time. Its interface should encourage exploration and its wacky characters may be just the comic relief that new users need to get over their initial phobias." So some stayed with their phobias and and remained mired in the Windows world where they expect the OS to think for them and others evolved out of the primordial mud and learned Linux. I used Bob briefly back in the day and felt insulted the first 30 minutes and there after every time I booted up a Windows machine.
Nice story about MS Bob. Run a search on Bing for "History taking up space." Here is the direct link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.07.windowsconfidential.aspx
http://nyewin.org http://nyexug.com http://nycsqlusergroup.com http://nylug.org
Actually this product was focused on a market segment (children) who don't generally buy computers in the first place. While many of them may be quick to pull out their plastic to make a purchase on a whim, what plastic they did have was kind of soggy and didn't carry much buying power. The high tech Mom and Dad who did think that their child should learn using expensive computer technology in those days didn't exactly fancy the idea of buying a 'cartoon like machine' for their children either.
It worked out pretty well for Gabe Newell, too....
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
And we eventually pounded Clippy into oblivion through ridicule, satire and parody. We must maintain eternal vigilance against this threat. Hold the line, comrades! Hold the line!
Since it only lasted a year on the market and quickly fell into disuse, I do not see how we've had 15 years of Bob.
Instead, we've seen user interfaces and platforms change quite a bit in that time.
s was announced it was hyped to the heavens and briefly accepted as a breakthrough that showed where software was going.
Kind of like Java.
Except Java's hype produced a cult that was so dead set on making a bad idea work that they actually did hammer it into something barely usable.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Give Clippy some love. I thought he was actually kind of fun, in an occasionally annoying pops-up when you don't want him kind of way.
Why didn't publish it on the first of April ?
I'm pretty sure it would have been a success !
IIRC, it required something like 8M RAM at a time when 4 was considered generous. Only power-users had that much RAM, and MS admitted that BoB wasn't for power-users.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
I have a pristine unopened box in my garage. I figure it'll be worth something someday. Anyone want to make me an offer? :)
and i'll take it off your hands.
I don't think you can get anyone to take it from you if you pay less.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
is that is inspired the creation of Comic Sans.
Enjoy the licking flames of Hell, Robert.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
Don't simply reminisce about Microsoft Bob, contribute to the GNU clone!
http://skralljt.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=62
I used to work a lot of trade shows. Comdex, CES, early multimedia trade shows.
I attended the shows where Microsoft Bob was announced. The hype was amazing. Taxi had signs. The daily magazines they hand out had adverts.
The funniest bit of promotion: Microsoft hired a limo driver, or at least a guy in a limo driver costume, to wander around the arrival concourse at McCarren. He was holding a big sign with "BOB" written on it.
As in, Bob was arriving at CES (or whatever show that was)!
Of course, as a Pope in the Church of the SubGenius, I knew the greatness of "Bob" all along.
What happened to the Einstein helper?
I loved that character. It was cute and tried to act intelligent. It was useful, and provided some animated relief humor to amuse my train of thought during long hours of working on Word documents or Excel spreadsheets.
Rumor: Gabe Newell (founder, Valve Software) was once a project manager on Microsoft Bob.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
I know Bob is considered one of the worst failing designs for a ... whatever it was... ever. BUT, I applaud Microsoft for trying something new like that. They surely analyzed the market and thought this would solve a problem.The people here are not going to use bob, but for new users, maybe bob helped a bit.
I kinda feel it's like bashing apple for learning about touchpads in the newton.
Bob failed for a lot of reasons, and they are all briefly addressed in the article which is after all not a book.
But ultimately, it just wasn't needed. People who really don't get computers, just don't do it. And those who do, will just either ask for real human help or muddle through. Microsoft Bob fullfils the need of nobody.
Some might LIKE the idea, for their mom. But very few like it for themselves and then only because they are not actually using it. The proof? Nobody is using it. Go ahead, install it and try to find a market for it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df9507/df950713.jpg
I still have the Microsoft Bob CD somewhere. If I get around to looking for it, I hope I can find it. I think it even came with stickers.
Since this thread is "Idle":
The correct spelling is "minuscule".
Pimp My Blog: 15 Years of Reminding People About Microsoft Bob
But seriously, even on the net this kind of history gets forgotten to time. So I say good job and it's comforting that there are enough hands to catch what falls off the edge of the web.
(Also I nominate pimpmyblog as a recurring tag for any story where the submitter references his or her own site in any way. How else will we get a sweet leopard fur hat icon up there?)
I'm reading through this thread, and in a couple instances wanted to read an abbreviated item. Now it used to be that clicking on those items just expanded them - pretty much what anyone would expect. Well, the Slashdot Powers That Be have apparently decided that, no, it makes more sense to take you to a new page that just includes that small thread segment in it. If you want to go on reading the rest of the thread, you have to go back to the previous page.
Who in their right mind would think this is a good default to impose on people? It doesn't matter if you can turn it off - why is an annoying new behavior now the default?
Seriously, did some of you guys work for Microsoft in the mid 1990s? Cuz I'm seeing about the same level of common sense being applied here as was shown by the Bob development team...
#DeleteChrome
Remember that Bill Gates married the product manager of Microsoft Bob.
She'd just joined Microsoft and was a programmer ... a pretty good one at that ... she's pretty hot ... she was 23... Wouldn't you scoop up a girl like that?
No. I would glance at her when I'd think she isn't looking, I'd occasionally daydream about her, perhaps get myself involved in the projects that she is in and plan about asking her for a coffee... Then, after about a year of hesitation I would watch my boss "steal her" from me. I'd watch the two of them get rich together and be mad at myself for missing the boat as I grew old alone and became an alcoholist.
Anyone ever figure out why they picked the name 'Bob'? Why not 'Paul' or 'Bill' or 'Steve'? There has got to be a story behind it, like 'Google'. When Google was founded, the president of Yahoo was Tim Koogle.
Seems to be gone on my end. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://technologizer.com/2010/03/29/microsoft-bob/&safe=strict
there'd really be nothing to talk about.
As for me, I have better things to do!
It makes me feel so professional when an animated puppy helps me find files.
Who does there branding? Mr. Rogers?
I hate Bob, too.
It was coded by Melinda Gates....name sound familiar to anybody out there???
Bob, clippy, and any other gadget that imposes its will upon you by default is a bad idea. People hate being told what to do, especially when something grabs UI focus from you and makes a non-modal process a modal one. Rule No. 1 of UI design is let the user focus on the task. Distracting the user... what were they thinking? I have years of pent up Clippy hatred because my Office technology is stuck at 97 and 2000 (by choice.) First thing I always get to do is try and recall how to turn them off. BOB IS ABOMINATION! Please let it die. Take WGA next.
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
"Microsoft Bob" are the tendencies of a person or people, not an artifact alone! It isn't corporate personhood either -- something SCOTUS and bigwig entrepreneurial types haven't sufficiently addressed as of right now. Figure it out yet, fat figurers? And Microsh*t it remains with regard to: .Xls files plus screwing SQL, Cisco routing and, I.E. version whatever they got out now . . .
Who's research supported these things? From the article, two Stanford professors, Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves. They had demonstrated that humans respond to social stimuli even if presented by non human entities. They promoted the idea that computer interactions had to have social, human aspects.
After reading these social scientists' experiments, the Microsoft team attended seminars by Pattie Maes and Nicholas Negroponte. They then run off and implement Bob, Clippy, and other animated idiots.
These tenured birdbrains led Microsoft (and a million Windows users) right down the rosy path...
Bob is an illustration of a mistake made by the powerful, the alpha males, the high-ranking. These are people who do not want to perform hands-on activities themselves or make things happen directly. They want to express themselves through their direction of other people. They do not want to play the violin, they want to conduct the orchestra.
This is personality trait is not in itself good or bad. The same personality traits can enable a person to direct a group to achieve things that individuals cannot achieve by themselves, or it can result in tyranny.
The point is, it is a _rare_ personality trait.
Most of us _prefer_ to do it ourselves. We want tools, not servants. We want a car--one that becomes like an extension of our own body--not a chauffeur. We'd rather pop something in the microwave and have it in ninety seconds than watch a servant go scrambling and to try to get it to us in five minutes. We want something that acts on our intentions the way our hands do, not the way our office subordinates do.
We want to be Superman, not Napoleon.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Webster's is an abomination unto the Holy English Language - any dictionary that would allow "momentarily" as meaning "in a moment" rather than "for a moment" would be. Looks like others (Oxford) are also falling into this dangerous syncretism.
Personally, I don't think I'd like to be in a plane that takes off "momentarily"..
Only 1/2 :-).
My best friend when I was around ten had a computer with Bob preinstalled on it. I had an Atari ST, and it all seemed rather over-simplistic to me- both systems seemed light years behind the Acorns we used at school.
As I recall, my friend killed that system when out of curiosity he flipped the voltage regulator switch on the power supply to 110v :)
I've admitted it before, I worked on Bob.
Bob was never marketed to IT buying groups. It was aimed at your typical consumer who was afraid of a PC. That's why the apps were: List maker (excel with only one column), Letter Writer (Write+/-), Something like Publisher, but not and Mail which instead of folders had an old fashioned letter desk interface where you composed and organized your mail.
Bob was for your grandmother, your non-technical Mom / Dad, etc. The problem is that it only worked well on a P90, which was a $5k computer at the time which no grandmother was going to buy. We wrote it in VB as it was a Melinda Gates / Karen Fries project and Bill's obsession was VB for reasons. VB was never able at that time to achieve the visual performance required to make Bob work on a true consumer class PC - a 486/66 or actually lower at the time.
We brought in the compiler team to try to optimize the performance without any real luck.
IIRC, when it shipped it took 17 seconds to launch on a P90 and I could crash it in 3 clicks.
Praise "BOB", Fuck Connie (Use protection, she's a floozy!)
Hail Eris, for she is mischievous and angered by Hot Dogs!