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."

Comments

Hey

[kiehlster]

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.

Re:Hey

[istartedi]

Well, that pretty much sums it up. You enjoyed it as a kid. Trouble is, it was marked to adults.

Re:Hey

[Stargoat]

I have several adult users who would have loved to have Microsoft Bob. As it was, there was very cranky people well I changed to Office 2007 and they lost their Paperclips or Kitty Cat or whatever the heck they had. These cranky people are not knuckleheads, but rather accountants, loan officers, and other people who like a touchy-feely PC.

The problem is not that Microsoft Bob was marketed to adults, but rather it is IT guys who buy software for organizations. A PC is a tool and like all tools, works best with the fewest necessary peripheries. IT guys recognize this. They have no use for Bob and they feel (perhaps rightly) that their users should have no use for Bob and Bob like programs bring no real value.

Re:Hey

[Matrix14]

Yeah, Bob was pretty cool when I was a child. I used to spend hours arranging things in imaginary rooms.

Now I code.

it failed because it's bullshit technology

[jollyreaper]

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.

My Mom Liked Clippy

[Petersko]

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.

Re:My Mom Liked Clippy

[Deathlizard]

I agree that it was ahead of it's time.

If you could replace Clippy with Hatsume Miku, Japanese sales of Office would go through the roof.

Re:My Mom Liked Clippy

[Scrameustache]

I think the problem with Clippy was that he was ten years too early.

It looks like you're trying to do some work, would you like me to interrupt?

I had a college friend who called me in a panic once, she had a paper due the following day and Clippy had popped up and WOULD NOT GO AWAY. It completely prevented her from continuing with her work. I drove there, and found the option to get rid of that monstrosity buried in some deep menu so she could continue after that wasted hour... Clippy should have been the focus of a class-action lawsuit that would have put MS out of business as a warning to others, if there was any justice in the world.

Re:My Mom Liked Clippy

[Thorwak]

It could tell you answers to really basic things (How do I print a document?), but more advanced questions usually gave an amusing answer at best. Still, I agree with the GP Clippy could be useful for the complete novice.

The problem, if you ask me, was that the average PC was too slow at the time so the computer would almost freeze for several seconds and perhaps even swap parts of Office to disk. The frustration of this happening whenever "It looks like you're writing a letter" of course made most ppl hate the whole thing.

Oh that reminds me :)
Helpful Clippy

Re:My Mom Liked Clippy

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Nonsense. Bob and Clippy and that annoying little dog are derided because they're so irritatingly, cloyingly, adorably cute. It's bad enough having your intelligence insulted by an obtrusive "wizard" that isn't, but the OMG PONIEZ!! aspect is just the last straw.

Re:My Mom Liked Clippy

[BrokenHalo]

they just frickin' work. You don't need to know about timing belts and spark plugs and carburetors vs fuel injection. You just have to have some common sense.

Unfortunately, modern cars seem to make these conditions mutually exclusive. They are designed for people who have no common sense, and discourage its use.

In the days when we had to double-declutch through every gear and make allowances for iffy brakes or steering, no-one had any expectation that talking on the phone while playing a bouzouki were compatible with driving safely.

Re:Oh great...

[commodore64_love]

Probably would have succeeded if it had been released during the Windows 3 years. Believe it or not, I think BOB was superior to that piece'o'crap.

Then again, what wasn't better than Windows 3? MacOS System 6/7 or Amiga Workbench were both better. Hell even Commodore=64's GEOS was better.

"I minimized my Word doc, and now I can't find it. Where'd it go?" - "It's behind the program manager." - "Grrrr."

Re:Half-Life of Bob

[TheRaven64]

Well that explains Steam. 'It appears that you are trying to waste some time on a game. Would you like to debug you network connection instead?'

Don't you mean 14 years AFTER Microsoft Bob

[l0ungeb0y]

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.

Re:Oh great...

[c 0xFF]

How long must keep bringing up such a miserable piece of junk and humiliating Microsoft?

Forever. And often. They need some humility.

We should do the same for other companies -- Apple needs some humility, too.

Re:Oh great...

[edittard]

It looks like you're trying to get a first post. Would you like me to:

* Help you with a template

* Waste your time so you fail it

* Just bugger off

Re:Oh great...

[Belial6]

So, who should be humiliated? Bill , who got to spend the proportional equivalent money on Bob as you would for a Big Mac, and got to bang the Unit Manager?

Or Malinda, who used it as part of a successful step in sleep her way to being one of the richest people in the world?

Re:Oh great...

[hairyfeet]

But to be fair (and I hate to even seem to be nice to BOB, as I'm old enough to have given it a spin and boy did it suck) it was 1994 folks, and lots of tech did sucketh back then. And at least it wasn't as bad as driveby Comet Cursors or those damned Geocities pages that would drag shit behind you cursor and turn your PC into a slideshow.

But if you want to rag MSFT there are a lot worse fuck ups to point out, such as WinME (the only OS that could make win98SE look rock solid) or Vista (you seem to want to smack me: cancel or allow?) or the RRoD (have friends working on their 3rd and 4th x360s) instead of bringing up an OS from the age of dinosaurs.