LGR - The Microsoft Bob Experience

8:00 I kinda worked on this idea of an assistant too. Well in concept for augmented reality. I just thought how cool it would to have a virtual pat that is also an assistant. But I couldn't find any good user story, people would rather have just an virtual pet probably than something that also acts as an assistant.

Ezydenias

The little Dog - was he used in another program used to make cards? You mentioned a greeting card program that you can only use with Bob installed but I remember using a card making program with Windows 98

I always expected the worst from this - but more and more, outside of the instability around its database, it's… kind of okay? Certainly not something many of us watching today would have ever needed - but it feels if it were released a bit earlier, maybe there'd have been more traction (well, that and a price cut!). Excellent video of the whole Bob experience, surprisingly more educational that I would have expected otherwise!

Rob Caporetto

Ha can't wait to watch this when I have time, becoming his patron was the best thing

Honestly, it seems like something I would have liked. It seems like a setup that would help keep you less distracted using a computer, too. EG: All the games are in a game room.

JennaKay

Reminds me of the ill fated bonzi buddy

Paul Unser

Second!

I vote for a rundown of Clippit’s friends: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant</a>

Bastien Nocera

Reminds me of Launchpad, which came with my first computer. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GZVf_W4g_4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GZVf_W4g_4</a>

Chris Rogers

When it came to Progman replacements, I always liked Central Point desktop.

Steve Lovelace

Font nut here. The hate at this point has become a meme in and of itself. I've certainly been guilty of using it "ironically". But truth be told, it's not a bad font. It was designed by a professional typographer, and looks good (as good as Comic Sans can look) at any size. It initially got so much hate because it was misused. It’s fine for a worksheet for kids, but when people at Fortune 500 companies started using it in their email signatures (it was the only standard font that looked sort of handwritten), it completely jumped the shark. Then it became the font everyone loves to hate. Interestingly enough, it has some real benefits. It’s good for dyslexic people and is readable from a distance, so much so it was used on a war memorial in the Netherlands!

Steve Lovelace

This product never moved when I worked at Software Etc. This and 'Internet in a Box' are great examples of home computing in 1995.

Matt Standish

So did you print out all those greeting cards? And when can we expect them in the mail? :D

John Covil

They could just use the engine and assets for Halo. Ooh, and add Hololens support. I could get behind that.

As a person who recorded his own greetings and sounds for when Windows loaded ("Welcome, Marcos" on boot, for example), I would have LOOOVED Bob in the 90s.

Funny how this "your computer is a home thing" didn't really take off but it's basically being adopted as the standard of VR software launchers and the like, (comic) sans the annoying assistants.

I remember seeing Bob on the shelf. One thing that is ironic is that Microsoft actually hated the fact that so many computer companies were replacing program manager with their own shell. Many of these shells were extremely poorly written and unreliable, and the inconsistency in operation from one computer to the next meant that Microsoft Windows was getting to the point that consumers wouldn't even recognize it anymore, and/or would blame it for all of the crashes and problems of the 3rd party shells it shipped with. Eventually, after Windows 95 came out they started taking steps to prevent computer companies from doing this. So the reason I say it is ironic is that they were just as guilty themselves with Microsoft Bob. During the 1990s I worked for AST computer in the tech support department and one of the most common calls we got were people having problems with "AST Works" which was our replacement for the program manager. It never worked right. Half the time I'd just show customers how to switch back to the default program manager and then they'd be happy.

The 8-Bit Guy

Will there be a Patron-exclusive supercut of every time you say "Bob" in the video? :)

Aleisha

Someone needs to recreate Microsoft Bob in VR :O

To this day I still don't know why the hate for Comic Sans is so widespread. I understand font nuts being upset at it for reasons only they care about, but I'm positive most of the hate comes from people who are just jumping on the bandwagon. I mean, how devoid of problems must your life be if you can get angry at a FONT of all things? Anyway, nice to finally see what MS Bob was all about.

Pablo Rodriguez

One thing I don’t get: why call it “Microsoft Bob”? Wouldn’t “Microsoft Home” or something be more fitting? Bob isn’t an acronym and none of the assistants are called Bob. So what’s the name supposed to refer to?

Will Herrmann

Sometime after my father passed away I convinced Mom she needed a computer. We got her a Micron with a P90, DOS 6.22, Windows 3.11 and... Bob. (I think I still have that computer!). As I recall Mom liked Bob, at least for a while. It's now over 20 years later and thankfully Mom is still around, now she uses a ThinkPad, an iPad, and I gave her an Echo for Christmas, she loves it!

Jeff DeWitt

i feel like a realy missed out, born in the 90's but not exposed to computers till i was 11. atleast i was poor enough to live in the past, sucks my dad had a no pc under 300mhz rule, i was forced to throw out an apple 2gs, tandy 1000 and an old Compaq portable. wish i had them now.

Honestly, the fact that these "assistants" in Microsoft Bob were brought back in Windows XP was just ridiculous.

I'd almost be curious to see what Microsoft would make for a Bob reboot. Having Cortana's AI behind it might yield interesting results. Or terrible results. Who knows. I'm looking at you Metro UI

Garoninja

I could have sworn that you've posted a video about Microsoft Bob before. Am I experiencing the Mandela Effect?

I wouldn't have bought it. I had no friends in Phoenix to e-mail at the time. (Plus, I noticed it's geared only towards the USA.)

Gary Leigh

Welp, Bob was a thing. For a while.

Alyxx the Rat

Looking at the register card, there are sooo many mismatched numerals and letters and wow that thing is a disaster...

Christopher Bassett

Oh god.

Jamie Magin

I do IT for some dental offices... The one thing I learned is that Microsoft Bob lives on in Patterson Eaglesoft: <a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_bodBnyorUE/maxresdefault.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_bodBnyorUE/maxresdefault.jpg</a>

Randall Strye

When I hear "Bob", all I can think about is that Black Adder episode.

Tempus Fugit

I remember navigator. Hell, I think that's what I launched Myst from every time as a kid

neuroflare

I'm inclined to agree. Especially considering it launched so close to the release of Windows 95, which had a far superior set of navigation processes. But then, Bob would lack the ability to run Windows software, so eh

LGR

I would think that Microsoft BOB would have more of a use in MS-DOS than Windows.

Zet The Legendary Hero

Ha! Sounds like the classic set of Bob experiences.

LGR

It is the way of Bob.

LGR

Ah, collapsing in a pile of darkness. One of my favorite hobbies.

The Enforcer

We had a copy of Bob in 1996, installed in Win95. I think I saw my dad use it once, use some profanity, and uninstall it. I played with it years later when I was bored one day.

Their Navigator program had some similarities, for sure

LGR

Everything is okay within the safe walls of Microsoft Bob

LGR

Never used Bob but I remember some similar shell on a couple packard bells.

Jessie Cook

"Collapsing in a pile of darkness" in the Household Manager... Clint? Are you OK?

Kyle Anderson

Happy to hear it, Steve!

LGR

Definitely up to my expectations. Even at 18 minutes, I was left wanting more. I'd love to see a Tech Tale.

Steve Lovelace

Maybe Packard Bell Navigator's KidSpace? Or KidDesk. There were a ton of programs like this in the mid 90s. I have fond memories of using Berkeley Systems Launchpad myself.

LGR

I hope it lives up to expectations! Still might do a Tech Tales on the rest of the Bob story sometime, too

LGR

I think I might have had something like this. I think it was called kidspace or something like that. I screwed that up by deleting key files. Including system files. Ahh, good times . . . (PS: Don't let kids delete system files.)

I've been waiting for a review of this!

Keiron Wedlin

Or, Cortana in this case, cuz Microsoft :)

LGR

Bob is basically the super lame dad of Alexa and Siri.

avfusion

There are a surprising number of elusive Home titles! Several I've only seen in MS catalogs.

LGR

I'm currently collecting Microsoft Home software titles and this is like the grail for me.

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