1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, everybody, Welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,440 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at how Stuff 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:19,800 Speaker 1: Works and I love all things tech in. Today is 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: another Friday classic episode of tech Stuff, and I alluded 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: to this in an earlier episode that published this week. 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: This is an episode that originally published on May nine, 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. It is titled What About Microsoft Bob? 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: And in this episode, Lauren Voge Obama and I go 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: and revisit a beloved, enormous trash fire of a piece 11 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: of software called Microsoft Bob. It was an attempt at 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: making a graphic user interface for the common person, something 13 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: that anyone could grasp, and it was about as big 14 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: a misstep as you can imagine. So enjoy this classic episode. 15 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: We're gonna tackle Bob and we're gonna wrestle him to 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: the ground and probably give him noogies. But then so 17 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: did the rest of the world. Yeah, if you don't 18 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: know what Bob is, don't feel badly about it. It 19 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: was one of the biggest flops in Microsoft history, I 20 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: think one of the biggest flops and kind of history 21 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,040 Speaker 1: period Time did this list of the fifty worst inventions ever, 22 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: Time magazine. Time magazine, Yeah, back in, back in, and 23 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: Bob was on there. I mean along with like tanning 24 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: beds and hydrogen blimps. Hydrogen blimps not such a great thing. 25 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: Microsoft Bob possibly worse. It's killed killed fewer people, killed 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: fewer people, But people dreams died that day when Microsoft 27 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: Bob came out. Yes, that this was an interface for 28 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: Windows three point one, and then later came out, Yeah 29 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: it was. It was also for Windows in t So 30 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: here's the thing, here's the thing. We're talking about era 31 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: where the personal computer is starting to get some serious 32 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: try action, but still is not in most homes. In fact, 33 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: Microsoft when they were talking about designing Bob and the 34 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: launch of Bob, they were predicting that by I think 35 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: it was n that PCs would be in forty six 36 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: percent of households, and and and this was that this 37 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: was a forty six percent in the incredible future. The 38 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: idea of being that is a really big number. That 39 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: Microsoft's crazy to think that that many people would have computers. Well, 40 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: the problem that Microsoft had identified as something that they 41 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: needed to solve with brute force is that that someone 42 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: who is unfamiliar with computers might find the operation of 43 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: such a device to be intimidating and difficult, and the 44 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: learning curve might be too too steep for your average 45 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: person who was not already familiar with computers. And certainly 46 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: before Windows three point one came out, when it was 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: just doss on say, just doss operation, I'm simply saying 48 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: that it was perhaps not the most friendly thing to 49 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: greet a person just just lines of code on a screen. 50 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: I didn't need a friend, I needed an operating system. 51 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: That's what Does gave me. And that is kind of 52 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: that is kind of what what McIntosh was doing at 53 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: the time. And and and Apple was was kind of 54 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:13,799 Speaker 1: kicking a lot of button that arena because they were 55 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: giving people something more friendly, more user friendly, and a 56 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: little bit more intuitive, right, keep in minding, of course, 57 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: Apple had a big jump on other computers because the 58 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: Apple too was a very popular personal computer among mostly 59 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: hobbyists and people who were interested in computers. Because again 60 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: that was that was in the line command days, we 61 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: had the type stuff in when Apple introduced the Macintosh 62 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: and the graphics user interface, Apple of course was not 63 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: the the company to invent the graphics user interface, but 64 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: they were the first ones to really successfully implement it 65 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: in a personal computer platform, and people liked it. It 66 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: was one of those things where things just made more sense. 67 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: It was it was it was a little more intuitive 68 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: than having to type and memorize all these different commands 69 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: that you would type into just get your computer to 70 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: douce stuff. Well, Microsoft wanted to kind of um create 71 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: its own graphic unit user interface, and that was the 72 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: genesis of the Windows program. But even then they thought 73 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: there's gotta be a way of making this simpler for 74 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: the average person. Now, to really look at the development 75 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,119 Speaker 1: of Bob, you have to go back a few years 76 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: before Bob was a thing. And so back in Microsoft 77 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: launched a program called Microsoft Publisher. It's a desktop publishing program, 78 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: and it was the first program from Microsoft that included wizards. Now, 79 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: wizards are not you know, it's not Harry Potter coming 80 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: out and waving a lawn saying regard en leviosa or 81 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: a loha mora or uh avauta cadavera. It's instead a 82 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: little a little help pop up. Yeah, that's supposed to 83 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: guide you through a complicated process step by step. So 84 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: This was a big help for someone who maybe was 85 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: not familiar with this particular process or very rarely used it. 86 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: And uh, and would just follow along on the directions 87 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: as opposed to having to thumb through a four page manual. 88 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: Right and and and Microsoft Publisher was was pretty popular. 89 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: It was designed by Karen Fries and Barry Lynnette. Yeah, 90 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: and Karen Fries is going to become important in a 91 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: little bit and uh and right when when they were 92 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: you know, they had finished with Publisher, it was out 93 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: in the world. It was doing great, and they were like, 94 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: what else can we do? What is our next project? 95 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: We want to keep helping newbs. I'm not sure if 96 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: news was a term. Yeah, no, but that's that's that's 97 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: exactly you know, we're going to translate it for the 98 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: kids of today. We're really the kids of about six 99 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: seven years ago. But anyway, yes, uh. They wanted to 100 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: continue to develop software that would help people who otherwise 101 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: would be unfamiliar and maybe intimidated by software. So that's 102 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: when they started to look into the possibility of developing 103 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: a full graphics user interface designed with these nubes in mind. 104 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: Originally they were calling it Data Wizard, and then that 105 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: eventually had the code name Utopia, but by the time 106 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: time it was finally going to launch, it had of 107 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: course changed to Microsoft. Bob was designed as an alternative 108 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: interface as as Lawrence said earlier for Windows three point 109 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: one and even Windows and TU It's supported programs designed 110 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: for BOB, So it supported its own programs designed for 111 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: that operating system or rather that user interface. Uh. It 112 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: also supported Windows programs and it supported DOSS programs. So 113 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: the idea was that this would be able to support 114 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: anything that a person would want to run on a PC. 115 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: So but but you know, through through this filter that 116 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: would allow people who are unfamiliar with computers to to 117 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: set everything up the way they would want it, you know, 118 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: with with minimum complication. Right. So, so Karen Fries became 119 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: the the project lead for this particular project. The lead 120 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: developer was a guy named Gabe Newell. Do you recognize 121 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: that name? Gabe Newell. Newell was one of the co 122 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: founders of Valve. Yeah. So Gabe Newell all, so, uh, 123 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: someone who in his post Microsoft years, which are the 124 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: last like two and a half decades, has been um, well, 125 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: I guess I say last two decades has been more 126 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: than a little critical of his old company. Uh, he's 127 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: He's definitely leveled some pretty hefty criticisms against some major 128 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: Microsoft releases. But he worked on on Microsoft Bob. Maybe 129 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: that's what kind of left a certain bad taste in 130 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: his mouth or something. I can see that. Uh. And 131 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: the the person at Microsoft who was kind of overseeing 132 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: the whole thing, who was guiding it was uh, well, 133 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: when she first started working on the project, her name 134 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: was Melinda French, but then kind of in the middle 135 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: of it, she became Melinda Gates. Yes, so Bill Gates's wife. 136 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: Melinda was the head of the whole marketing marketing side. 137 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: But also, you know, she was essentially kind of like 138 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: the face. She was a cheerleader, but certainly which which 139 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: led some people to suggest, perhaps snarkily, maybe not even 140 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: perhaps narctly, just definitely that the reason why Bob went 141 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: as far as it did was because of who was 142 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: behind it, as opposed to the merits of the operating system. 143 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: But let's be fair, the idea behind Bob was solid. 144 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: It was a solid idea of let's create something that 145 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: is very accessible and intuitive and comforting, and and they 146 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: tried to use some really hard data to support their 147 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: design decisions. They actually uh contacted a couple of professors 148 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 1: from Stanford to act as project consultants, Clifford Nas and 149 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: Byron Reeves, and they their their area especially it was 150 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: figuring out, well, how how do people communicate, how do 151 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: they access information? How do they process information? And their 152 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: point of view is that the more natural you can 153 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: make an interaction, the more readily someone will understand it 154 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: and adapt and want to interact with it. Exactly, So 155 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: you have to create an environment that it just it 156 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: feels natural and makes sense. Now that's obviously a very 157 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,199 Speaker 1: a very clear motivation. I mean, we we've seen that 158 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: in products since I think the iPad is a great 159 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: example of that. It was a design where it's very 160 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: intuitive to use. You give an iPad to a kid, 161 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: that kid masters the iPad and no time flat without 162 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: ever having to ask how something works. Yeah, they've they've 163 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: they've done those those great studies in in Africa with 164 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: kids who can't even read, have never been exposed to 165 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: anything like this before, and they just take off with it. Yeah, 166 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: So I mean that that's sort of the idea here. 167 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: They wanted to design something they had that same sort 168 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: of approach and appeal so that they could help people 169 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: who otherwise wouldn't be intimidated by computers. So in January seven, 170 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,319 Speaker 1: Bill Gates took the stage at c E S and 171 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: unveiled Bob. He showed off also a future project that 172 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: was Bob related called p D, which was a c 173 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: G I parrot that could respond to verbal requests. And 174 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: then on March one, they released Microsoft Bob. Uh, the 175 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: full retail price if you're buying the full thing, was 176 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: as but it mostly sold that around which still pretty 177 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: expensive software. Yeah yeah, and by comparison today due to inflation, 178 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: that would be worth about a hundred and forty so 179 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,960 Speaker 1: whereas Windows eight costs about ninety on the market. Yeah. Yeah, 180 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: so it definitely was a little expensive. It said on 181 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: the box that did not come with a manual, but 182 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: it came with a manual, or at least it was 183 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: called Bob's Magazine, so it was trying to be packaged, 184 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: not as manual, but it was a twenty nine page 185 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: list of instructions. And uh, did you hear about Microsoft 186 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: Press and the book that they published. I I did 187 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: not what happened? They published a book called At Home 188 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: with Bob. At Home with Bob, which was a companion 189 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: guide and it was two hundred and ten pages long. Goodness, 190 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: miss a lot guide for something that doesn't need a 191 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: guy to Yeah, that's when you don't need a guide. 192 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: You go wholeheartedly down to your Microsoft. I teased them, 193 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:19,319 Speaker 1: I certainly couldn't build a graphics user interface at all. 194 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: So let's talk about what Bob was really like, How, 195 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: how how what kind of operating our user interface was it? 196 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: Just for perspective, real quick, um, Bob was was dead 197 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: in the water by early To give you an idea 198 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: of how well this went. Microsoft pulled the plug in 199 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,959 Speaker 1: ninety six. So when it went less than a full 200 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: year before, Microsoft said all right, this is this is 201 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: not gonna work. And we'll get into why they made 202 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: that decision. And some people might even argue that it 203 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: was kind of a like the deck was stacked against them, 204 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: that the Bob was not as horrible as it was 205 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: given at it. I disagree for one major reason, but 206 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: I'll get into that in the in a little bit 207 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: later in the podcast. So, so here we have the idea. 208 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: The whole idea is, let's create a graphics user interface. 209 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: It's very relatable and easy to use and and intuitive. 210 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:22,200 Speaker 1: How did Microsoft go about it? What was Bob? Bob 211 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: was a it was a house. It was it was you. 212 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 1: You enter Bob's house, and in Bob's house, there are 213 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: visual representations of everything that you would hypothetically want to 214 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: do with your computer exactly, Like like there's a there's 215 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 1: a living room that you're looking into, right, so and so. 216 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: Instead of a desktop where you have icons that you 217 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: click on, you're looking into a clip art living room. 218 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: Vector graphics. Yes, two and fifty six colors, super fancy. Yeah. 219 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: If if you don't, if you've never seen pictures, link them, 220 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: it's spectacular. Anyone who's used any of the old Microsoft 221 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: Office products that had lots and lots of clip art 222 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:06,320 Speaker 1: in them, and you've looked through those clip arts and 223 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,320 Speaker 1: you thought, wow, that's what Bob was made up of. 224 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: And there was a lot of animation involved. Every everything 225 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: was kind of cute. See yes, everything was very cartoonish. 226 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: And you had a personal assistant, series of personal assistants, 227 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,679 Speaker 1: and the one that it came the standard one, the 228 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: one that would just be there as soon as you 229 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: started up, was Rover Retriever. The personal assistance would later 230 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 1: come into play in versions of Microsoft Office, like Microsoft 231 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 1: Office nineties seven. We'll get into that too. So, um, anyway, 232 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: you're that your guide when you first start off as 233 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: Rover Retriever, you could change him later, and I think 234 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: that'll be fun to talk about when we get into 235 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: the features. I've got a list exciting, Yeah, I got 236 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: I got a couple of things I want to say 237 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: about some of those those guys. But before we do that, 238 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: I want to I want to talk about what it 239 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: was like to first enter to just so, so I'm 240 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: just gonna I'm gonna paint you a picture with words. 241 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: So you activate Microsoft Bob. You know, you've installed it 242 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: on your computer, assuming your computer could run it. We'll 243 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: get into that too. And when it first starts, you 244 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,959 Speaker 1: are greeted by the sight of a big red door, 245 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 1: and in the center of that big red door is 246 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 1: a gold door knocker, and that door knocker says Microsoft 247 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: Bob on it, So you have to click on the knocker, 248 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: which then makes the knocker knock on the door. And 249 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: you didn't have to have a sound card with Bob, 250 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: but it was recommended because there were many noises, so 251 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: many noises, including one such your personal assistant would occasionally 252 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: make at you, but you would knock on the door 253 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: and Rover Retriever shows up and says, uh, hey, I 254 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: see you're trying to break into my house. Actually he says, yeah, 255 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: I know you're coming in. Uh click on who you 256 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: are and a little list pops up. Now, on your 257 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: first visit, there's no one. You can't select a name 258 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: because you haven't gotten and registered one yet, so the 259 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: only voice that's there is guest. So guest was there 260 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: so that you could let a friend log in without 261 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: having to create a full account and use your computer 262 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: to do whatever the right, so you could click guests. 263 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: But if you did click guests, then you would get 264 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: another message from Rover, who would say, are you sure 265 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: you don't want to go ahead and create a profile? Well, 266 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: I didn't really see that option earlier, but sure, why not. 267 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: Let's let's let's make a profile. So Rover would then 268 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: ask if you are new to the home or if 269 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: you had once been on the list, but now can 270 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: no longer find your name on the list because one 271 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: of the things you can do is add and remove people, 272 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: or really you can remove people from the list once 273 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: you've joined it. So this would be something like, let's 274 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 1: say that you know you've kicked your no good son 275 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: out of the house because he's thirty four and really 276 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: he needs to go and make his own way in 277 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: the world. Now, I'm just using this as a hypothetical. 278 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: I don't have a kid, and if I had a 279 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: kid who was thirty four and have a lot of 280 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: explained to do. Anyway, so you kicked your thirty four 281 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: year old son out of the house, and you've changed it. 282 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: You've removed him from Microsoft Bob. So if he does 283 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: come back, he's not gonna be able to use the computer. 284 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: That would be the reason for that, right, So you 285 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: would have to answer that question like are you new 286 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: or were you essentially kicked off? And so let's say 287 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:23,760 Speaker 1: that you're new. You know, this is your first time 288 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: using Bob. You haven't alienated yourself from your friends and 289 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 1: family yet. So you click on new. Then it asks 290 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: you to enter in your first name, your preferred name, 291 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: your last name, your hometown, your birthday, and your gender, 292 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: which you could set to not telling. But every yeah, 293 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: every single field required you gotta film and and this 294 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: will come back later because these little these little cartoon 295 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: guides needed to know things about you so that they 296 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: could talk to you about stuff. Yeah, yeah, they did. 297 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: So you filled this part out. Now are prompted to 298 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: create a password for your account. And one of the 299 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: funny things I thought about this was that it actually 300 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: explains to you what the asterisks are as you type 301 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,640 Speaker 1: in your password. You know how the password field starts 302 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: filling up with asterisks, because if it showed you in 303 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: plain text what the password was, that wouldn't be very secure. Yes, 304 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: someone staying behind you can see it, and so it 305 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: actually explains that concept. And again, Bob's designed for people 306 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 1: who are brand new to computer right, No, no, I 307 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,920 Speaker 1: I can see someone, um, you know, for example, my 308 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: grandmother plays a lot of solitaire, but is mostly confused 309 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: about other things on computers that could be useful. Right, 310 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: So so yeah, if you're sitting there thinking, wait, I 311 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: didn't hit the asterisk button, why is that popping up, 312 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: it would actually explain it to me. It sounds silly 313 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: simply because I've been using computers for so long it's 314 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,400 Speaker 1: hard for me to even imagine that. But then again, 315 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: I was not the target market for Bob. Uh I'm 316 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: not sure who was. So then after that point, after 317 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: you created it, you had to type in your password 318 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,480 Speaker 1: a second time. Uh, and if you mistype the password 319 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: the second time, you would get a prompt telling you 320 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: that it did not match the first pass where and 321 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: you had to try again. That's gonna become really important 322 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,359 Speaker 1: in a little while. So next you would then, once 323 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: you get through the password creation process, you would enter 324 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: in your actual address and time zone, so not just 325 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: your hometown, your full address. And again it's required, so 326 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 1: you have to put the whole thing in there and 327 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: the time zone that you are in. Then you would 328 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: have to create at least one private room. So remember 329 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,399 Speaker 1: Bob is a house. Most of those rooms in that 330 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: house are public when it starts off, which means that 331 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: anyone who joins on to your computer can access those 332 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: public rooms. But if you wanted to create a private 333 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: room where only your stuff would be, like you know, 334 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: programs that you only want to have access to, you 335 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: could do that. Um. So, if if you wanted to 336 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: access a private room, you would have to be logged 337 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,679 Speaker 1: in under that I D so, uh, Lauren would not 338 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: be able to go into my room because of that, 339 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: except we'll talk about how she totally could do that 340 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: pretty soon. And then finally, the last step would be 341 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: that you would it would ask you if it wanted 342 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,680 Speaker 1: to import other programs besides the Bob programs that came 343 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,639 Speaker 1: standard with Microsoft Bob. So I would ask if you 344 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: wanted to import Dawson Windows programs. Uh. That step is 345 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 1: absolutely necessary. If you had completely lost your mind to 346 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: decide to use Bob as your graphics user interface for 347 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 1: everything and say I'm not using any other interface at all, 348 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,919 Speaker 1: just Bob, you would need to be able to import 349 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: those other programs. So that's the that's the process of 350 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: creating your Bob account. We're gonna talk about the the 351 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: the different features of Bob, the software that came with it, 352 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 1: some of these uh, some of these assistants everything once 353 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 1: that door opens and uh, and I'll start off with 354 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:49,439 Speaker 1: the big security flaw right after we take a short break, 355 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: all right back to Bob. So you know I mentioned 356 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: that there was a big security flaw. So Lauren, UM, 357 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: let's say that you you have got Microsoft Bob. I've 358 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 1: got a profile on there, my password, You've created a profile, 359 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: You've created a password. Whenever you need to log in, 360 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: you have to put your password in, and you have 361 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 1: one of the one of the pieces of software, and 362 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:20,679 Speaker 1: we'll talk more about them in a minute, but one 363 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: of the pieces of software there's is Bob is Bob's Checkbook. 364 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 1: The idea that's a financial software so that you can, 365 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,320 Speaker 1: you know, manage your home finances. So presumably there could 366 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:33,440 Speaker 1: be some pretty pretty private information in that. And let's 367 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: say you've you've thought of that, and you've actually put 368 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: that particular program in your private, private room. So yes, 369 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: it's not in a public room, so I'm not gonna 370 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: just have it across it stumble through it. Right. If 371 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: it were in a public room, that would be bad. Um. 372 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,920 Speaker 1: But you've created your password and everything, and then I think, huh, 373 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,920 Speaker 1: I really want to learn what Lauren's bank account number is. 374 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: So I try and log in as Lauren. When you 375 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: try and log in, uh, and you don't have the 376 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: right password. After three attempts, it says, I you know 377 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,160 Speaker 1: that's not the right password. Do you want to reset 378 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,160 Speaker 1: your password? And you say yes. Instead of it then 379 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,679 Speaker 1: taking you to like sending an email or linking you somehow, 380 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: there's because it's looking for nubs. It's saying, well, I 381 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: guess I'll just let you reset your password right now. 382 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: So I could then reset Lawren's password, so not only 383 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: would I have access to her account, I would lock 384 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: her out have access to my account anymore. Wow, that's 385 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 1: until you tried to enter the password three times and 386 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: then you could reset yourself, and so would essentially just 387 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: become the two of us resetting that password over and 388 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,640 Speaker 1: over and over again, until you gave up and said, 389 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: I do not want this on my computer. Huge, huge 390 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:44,200 Speaker 1: security flaw. Nothing is private. Well yeah, that's uh, that's 391 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:46,159 Speaker 1: the idea. I had not heard about that part of it, 392 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: and that is very special. And I wouldn't even need 393 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,919 Speaker 1: to have an account. I mean, all I would need 394 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: is access to your computer because just going in as 395 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: a guest, I could do that. And uh yeah, so 396 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: there was no such thing as privacy or security with Bob. 397 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: It had this just ridiculously massive vulnerability. Uh. And you 398 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: might as well not even have a password system at 399 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: that point, because if all it takes is three failed 400 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 1: logins and then you can reset the password, that's that's 401 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: like having no password at all. Yeah. Same sort of 402 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:19,880 Speaker 1: problems existed with removing people from a list. So let's 403 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 1: say that, um, let's let's have an interesting hypothetical situation here. 404 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: Let's say that for some reason how stuff works decides 405 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: to switch completely over to Microsoft Bob and we all 406 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: have a shared environment. That sounds like the worst thing. 407 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: And we'll talk about more reasons why they're forced in 408 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: a second, But alright, so we have a shared environment. 409 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,640 Speaker 1: One of the things anyone can do, whether they are 410 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: logged into Microsoft Bob or not, is remove someone from 411 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: that list. So I could go in and say, Josh, 412 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,159 Speaker 1: creepy hands Clark, you do not get access to the 413 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: computer anymore. Delete Josh, even as a guest could say, 414 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: guess what, Jonathan, neither can you delete? Or guess what 415 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 1: job that I'm can logging as you? Password? Password, password reset? 416 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,439 Speaker 1: You know, it's just ridiculous and um And part of 417 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:15,120 Speaker 1: the supposed appeal of Bob was that you could change 418 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: the decor of any room. Right, you can make a 419 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: room look the way you wanted based upon the clipward 420 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,679 Speaker 1: that you're unavailable. They had windows in these rooms, so 421 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: you can change the scenery outside. Yeah, you can make 422 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:32,640 Speaker 1: it like a space or field, pretty sunset. Yeah. Again, 423 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: keep in mind this is all clip art based stuff. 424 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,199 Speaker 1: But that meant that anyone else could do the same thing, 425 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: especially especially in the public rooms. So public rooms, anyone 426 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: could go in there, move stuff around, change the layout, 427 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: delete things, putting new things in, which means that if 428 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 1: Lauren lugs in and she says, oh, this doesn't make 429 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,400 Speaker 1: any sense, I'm going to rearrange everything so that makes 430 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: sense to to the way my brain works. And she 431 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: lays it out and an eye glogg and I'm like, 432 00:23:57,880 --> 00:23:59,479 Speaker 1: this doesn't make any sense, and I change it all 433 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: around so it make says to me, Lauren lugs back in, 434 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: it's changed completely from the last time she used it, 435 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: and it's going every time someone uses it and changes it, 436 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: it's going to be affective. Now in the example I'm using, 437 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: I'm suggesting that somehow we all have a networked user 438 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: interface that is as persistent across all our computers. In reality, 439 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: we're talking about one machine, one PC in a home. 440 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: But if it's a family PC and everyone logs into it, 441 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: then the kids could sit there and say like, I 442 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,120 Speaker 1: don't like that chair, delete and uh. Same thing for 443 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: the programs. The programs will be represented by various objects 444 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: right right. Either the main ones were by objects in 445 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: the room, and anything that you added in from Windows 446 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,439 Speaker 1: or daster, etcetera. Would be a little file box with 447 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:44,359 Speaker 1: an icon on the front of it. Right, so if 448 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,640 Speaker 1: you wanted to to activate any of those, uh, those 449 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,360 Speaker 1: main programs, you would have to click on the icon, 450 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 1: but you could actually change the size of the icon. 451 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,960 Speaker 1: So if you're if you thought, you know, that checkbook 452 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 1: needs to be three times the size that it currently is, 453 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: you could totally do that. So it was chaos. You know, 454 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: if you had more than one user using that computer, 455 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: there was no guarantee that your experience was going to 456 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: be remotely similar from one instance to the next, so 457 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,280 Speaker 1: that was a big issue as well. Um, that's also 458 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,439 Speaker 1: less intuitive. I mean, if you if you're designing this 459 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: for someone who really doesn't know what they're doing, I 460 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: can't imagine that that would be helpful. Yeah. And uh 461 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 1: and once you had that that profile created in your 462 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,680 Speaker 1: inside the home of Microsoft Bob, you had the opportunity 463 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 1: to take the home tour. The home tour did not 464 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 1: leave the room you were in, So whatever room you 465 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 1: were in, you would stay in there for the home 466 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,159 Speaker 1: tour and it would get go through about sixteen prompts 467 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: of information. Uh. So we had someone on Facebook ask 468 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:50,360 Speaker 1: us a question, specifically saying, is this where Clippy came from? Yes, 469 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: and no, the assistance that you could get in Bob 470 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: were acting very much in the same way that Clippy 471 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: on Microsoft Office and seven and word would perform. You 472 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 1: know that, Like, I see you're trying to write a resume? 473 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,199 Speaker 1: Would you like some help? Uh? The same sort of 474 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: thing was in Bob. In fact, that was one of 475 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: the few things to carry over into other Microsoft products. Yeah. Also, 476 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: the dog from the Windows XP search function was basically 477 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 1: retriever U there. When we talk about some of the 478 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,679 Speaker 1: other personal assistants, you'll recognize that at least one of 479 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,639 Speaker 1: them did make it into Microsoft Office. A Clippy was 480 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,680 Speaker 1: not in Bob, but he Clipping, in his own little way, 481 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,960 Speaker 1: was hated just as much as Bob was. Um. So yeah, 482 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: you could uh and and you would have to go 483 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 1: from room to room inside Bob in order to access 484 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: all the different programs, and that was not always the 485 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: most intuitive thing to do, which was unfortunate considering that 486 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: the whole purpose of Bob was to make using computers 487 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: even easier. Um and so yeah, you could just sit 488 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,639 Speaker 1: there and change out clip art to your heart's content. 489 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: So I guess we can talk a little bit about 490 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,639 Speaker 1: about the actual requirements, the software and and sort of 491 00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:59,480 Speaker 1: a little bit more about the navigation that once you're 492 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: in Bob. Um. I'm still reeling over the fact that 493 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:08,199 Speaker 1: essentially everyone had administrative rights on Bob no matter what, 494 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: whether they were logged in or not. That's kind of crazy, 495 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: all right, Okay, So, so the so the programs that 496 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: came native to Bob included a household Manager UM, which 497 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: was kind of kind of kind of life tips and 498 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,440 Speaker 1: home organizational kind of things like if we needed it 499 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:25,959 Speaker 1: to do list or something like that. I think that 500 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: that was part of that function. Yeah, you could also 501 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: do that of the calendar as well. Um. It did 502 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: have a note on it that the textual information may 503 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 1: not be accurate or complete, and it is not intended 504 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: to replace consultation with a professional, which really entertains me 505 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,120 Speaker 1: because I'm like, yeah, we're just we just wrote some stuff. Anyway, 506 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: there was the Bob letter Writer. Yes, one should help 507 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 1: you write letter. I see you're trying to write a letter. 508 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,200 Speaker 1: And that was very much like Clippy to the point 509 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: where you could tell Bob what sort of letter you 510 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: were writing and to what sort of person you were writing, 511 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: and it would fill out, it would auto fill out 512 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,920 Speaker 1: an entire letter that's so awful, might not at all 513 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: related to what you want to say. Um. I almost 514 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: only want to communicate in those now, just to see 515 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: how how far I could get using only Bob created letters. Uh, 516 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: and and just see if I could communicate my point 517 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: across through auto film messages. So Lauren, you've got something 518 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: to look forward to in the upcoming week. Thank you, 519 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: Thank you Microsoft for making this possible. Um. I'm sorry, Microsoft, 520 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 1: Please don't please don't kill me. Um. There was a 521 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: financial guide Bob Checkbook, which was also compatible with Microsoft's 522 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: money software. Right Uh that calendar the Jonathan mentioned an 523 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: address book. You could sign up for a Bob email account. 524 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: I totally wish I had one of those. This was 525 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: this was It was an extra charge at the time 526 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: and went only through a proprietary email client. You couldn't 527 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: just sign up any email client that you wanted to 528 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: take through the system. Still want and then Geo Safari 529 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: at the game. It was a little game with an education. 530 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: There were a couple of There are a couple of 531 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 1: of little assistance that would pop up for specific programs, 532 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: and one of them was a little elephant guy who 533 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: would pop up in Geo Safari. So while you're playing 534 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: the game, this little elephant dude shows up and asks 535 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: you questions about various areas or even not just geography, 536 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: but also animals. So I actually watched a video of 537 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: this demonstrated where a person was playing it, and it 538 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: gave you pairs of animals and explained their relationship to 539 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: each other. So shark and fish would be predator and prey, uh. 540 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: And then a what was the one like a shark 541 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: and a lamp prey would be a partner animal partnership, 542 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: so a symbiotic relationship. And then like a deer and 543 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 1: a tick, which would be a parasite parasitic relationship. And 544 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: then what it would do is it would show you 545 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: two animals and you had to figure out which of 546 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:55,960 Speaker 1: those three categories as two animals would would fall into 547 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: that that pair would fall into. So that was an 548 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: example of that geosph Are game. But most of the game, 549 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 1: from what I understand, was really more of geography than 550 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: uh than biology right right anyway, So that was one 551 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: of those little assistances that would pop up for a 552 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: specific instance, but there were other assistants as well. Right, yeah, 553 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: we had I've got a whole list here. We've got 554 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,959 Speaker 1: blithe the firefly, Hopper, the bunny, or be the globe ruby. 555 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: Uh it was. It was basically an angry bird before 556 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 1: before angry birds were a thing. Um Shelly the turtle, Speaker, 557 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: the the speaker. It was a little little icon of 558 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: a of a like a noise making computer speaker. Um Chaos, 559 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 1: the cat, Java the dinosaur. I think Scus the rat 560 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: because the mouse it was a mouse, not a rat. 561 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: Hey goes a link to a blunt det digger the worm. 562 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: Um and William Shakespeare are the ones you forgot. The 563 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: most important one. It's the most important important ones. There's 564 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: the dot. The dot was a giant red dot, the 565 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: big smiley face. But the most important one was bodal 566 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: Lair the French gargoyle. How could you leave out bode Lair, 567 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 1: the French gargoyle. I had I had heard tell of 568 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: a gargoyle, but I didn't have its name, and I 569 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: didn't I didn't want to. His name was Bodelaire. Well 570 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: he's a gargoyle. His French guys. Lauren and I have 571 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 1: a lot more to say about Microsoft Bob. But before 572 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: we get to that, let's take a quick break to 573 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. Each of these assistants had its own 574 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: kind of personality in a way, in the sense that 575 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: it would some of them would be a little more 576 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,280 Speaker 1: active than others. Some would would be faster to jump 577 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: in and offer suggestions than others. Apparently, Scuzzie the mouse 578 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: was really apathetic, just just didn't care. Bode Laire was 579 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: supposedly very quiet unless you specifically clicked on bodel are 580 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: to to get some help. Some of them were a 581 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,920 Speaker 1: little more proactive, right, And they all had different different 582 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 1: words that they would use. They had a different vocabulary, 583 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,680 Speaker 1: and for example, one of the words that Rover really 584 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 1: liked using the scrumptious as as in, I'm just one 585 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: of a scrumptious gang of personal guides here to help 586 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: you find your way in the home. Dog uh blythe 587 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: would say, oi a lot, I'm not joking, that's wonderfully 588 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: back off the things. Yeah, because I read up on 589 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: these um Yeah. So so anyway, if you if this 590 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: sounds to you like this would be even more obnoxious 591 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: than Clippy, you're pretty much on the right track. That 592 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: does the feedback in fact that many people well, I mean, 593 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: obviously Clippy didn't exist yet as a as a point 594 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: of reference, but yeah, uh and uh, you know, you 595 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: have that personal assistant going with you wherever, so you 596 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: could actually there was one choice. There was invisible, and 597 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: Invisible was essentially no personal assistant. You could still get 598 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,520 Speaker 1: help if you really needed it, but you didn't have 599 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: that that little animated character who was almost always in 600 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 1: the lower right hand corner of your screen. Uh. And 601 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: and these were characters that also like if if you 602 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: were idle for an extended time, characters like like Rover 603 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: or Chaos would go to sleep. And yeah, and occasionally 604 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: they would interact with other stuff in the room to 605 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: kind of be amusing. But I think I would have 606 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:27,719 Speaker 1: considered it distracting personally, but absolutely I agreed. Uh And 607 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: then uh, yeah, it also had a I thought it 608 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: was nice that that Bob came with some productivity software 609 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: like letter Writer, in the sense that you didn't already 610 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: have to go out and buy other software suites. You 611 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: can do some basic computing stuff in Bob. It's a 612 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: it's unfortunate that most of the navigation looked pretty complex. 613 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: Actually it would it would pull up these these dialogue 614 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: windows with lots of different choices. Yeah, I mean I 615 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: mean like RPG level choice. I mean like like seven 616 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: different choices on all these menus. Right, so you see, 617 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,520 Speaker 1: you know, basic menu design. You want to try and 618 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,240 Speaker 1: keep it as simple as possible. But some of these 619 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: menus had seven or more choices on them. And and 620 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 1: now all of them were intuitive, like you couldn't really 621 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: be like one of them might be change something, well 622 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: that's not specific at all. What does that mean? And 623 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: if you clicked on it, it it would allow you to 624 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,479 Speaker 1: do things like change the the view of the room, 625 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,840 Speaker 1: so whatever is in the wind, whatever is appearing in 626 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 1: the window, or change which programs are there, or or 627 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: or move to a different room. Um, you could add doorways, 628 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: you could add rooms. Uh and uh you might think this, uh, this, 629 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: this program probably didn't meet with too much success or 630 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:43,640 Speaker 1: acclaim and you'd you'd be correct entirely. According to PC Data, 631 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: retail research firm, only around fifty eight thousand copies of 632 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: Bob were ever sold. Um, by contrast, uh moved like 633 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: two point seven five million copies and retail the first month. Yeah, 634 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,160 Speaker 1: so fifty eight thousand for the almost the year or 635 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: that it existed and that's it. Um. Also, Microsoft kind 636 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,560 Speaker 1: of shot itself in the foot. They distributed copies review 637 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: copies to journalists back in December, right with with an 638 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:17,239 Speaker 1: embargo on reviews until only until after CS and not 639 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:21,759 Speaker 1: until the product launched, right and so at CS, Bill 640 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,839 Speaker 1: Gates gets up talks about it. But at that point 641 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: the embargo lifts, which means that the journalists are allowed 642 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: to write their thoughts on Microsoft Bob. And they did 643 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: and some of them were how they did, Yeah, there's 644 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 1: yeah one one. One guy said that much much of 645 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,760 Speaker 1: the behavior of these of these characters that are running 646 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: around helping you out will be unappealing to people seriously 647 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: bent on getting a lot of their PCs, or two 648 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: adults of any kind for that matter, essentially saying that 649 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: anyone who's not a kid is going to hate this, right, 650 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: and that that is the thing. You know. That's I 651 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: feel like, even if if I were completely new to 652 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:57,799 Speaker 1: computers had never used your scene one, if I had 653 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,480 Speaker 1: a cartoon talking to me about what I want to do, 654 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:03,800 Speaker 1: it doesn't. It feels like it's a toy. It feels 655 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: like it's it feels like it's a toy, and it 656 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 1: feels like it's talking down to you. UM, and I 657 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: mean to be fair. When Microsoft was showing off the 658 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,759 Speaker 1: assistance way back with publisher there were the response was 659 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,400 Speaker 1: very positive. People were saying, this is fantastic because these 660 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 1: these programs are getting so complicated that I just don't 661 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,319 Speaker 1: know how to do some of the things that you know, 662 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: I occasionally need to do, but I don't do so 663 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,759 Speaker 1: frequently that I've memorized the path to do this. And 664 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:32,919 Speaker 1: I want this for everything. And Microsoft heard those those 665 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:34,920 Speaker 1: cries and ran with it to the point where people 666 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:38,600 Speaker 1: realized they didn't really want it for everything. They wanted 667 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: it for stuff that was beyond an easy couple of cliques, right, 668 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: And and that's that is where a lot of the 669 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,759 Speaker 1: later Wizards came out of. And you know, I mean, 670 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,080 Speaker 1: we still have that on computers and it can still 671 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 1: be useful. UM, and I think that they were. Some 672 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: of their test audiences supposedly reacted very well to it. UM. 673 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: According to an article in PC World, UM Fries had 674 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: Karen Fries had remembered one man's response early on to 675 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,960 Speaker 1: to a to a little duck helper quote. This guy 676 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 1: was very emotional about it. He grabbed my arm. He said, 677 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,719 Speaker 1: save all the money on the manuals and just give 678 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,719 Speaker 1: me this duck to always be there and tell me 679 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:21,920 Speaker 1: what to do, right. Yeah. Which again they ran with that, 680 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: and unfortunately I think they took it to too far 681 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: of an extreme. Also, Bob was a bit of a 682 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: resource hog. Keep in mind this. In order to run it, 683 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,160 Speaker 1: you were the suggested minimum system requirements were to have 684 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:40,200 Speaker 1: a forty six CPU. Well, I remember those days. I 685 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,239 Speaker 1: actually had a two eighty six way back in the day. 686 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:45,360 Speaker 1: If you had a three day six, yeah, oh, super fast. 687 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,760 Speaker 1: They had to have thirty megabytes of free disk space. Again, 688 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: that doesn't sound like much, but it was no. I 689 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: mean at the time a thirty two card drive was 690 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,319 Speaker 1: large and uh and eight megabytes of memory, which was 691 00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,920 Speaker 1: about twice as much as what most of the computers had. 692 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,839 Speaker 1: So for the time, you had to have a very 693 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,600 Speaker 1: powerful machine to be able to just run this and 694 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: so and so. Yeah, and so you're talking someone who's 695 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,399 Speaker 1: who's never used computers before but has a better one 696 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,600 Speaker 1: than most other people. They have to go and spend 697 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: a good amount of money. Um. They it did come 698 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,400 Speaker 1: standard on one of the Gateway computers. Um. The Bob 699 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,640 Speaker 1: was the standard user in their face for that machine. 700 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: It's also fortunate for that gateway it had a different 701 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,480 Speaker 1: layout to it looked more like a barn than a house. 702 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,200 Speaker 1: Um beyond that, it was the same stuff. I just 703 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:38,600 Speaker 1: I just face palmed at that very idea excellent. I 704 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,080 Speaker 1: don't really have anything more to say about about that 705 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,239 Speaker 1: part of it. But also they there's some other there's 706 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,439 Speaker 1: another legacy that Bob left us. Although it's interesting, it's 707 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: not actually used in Bob, but it was created for 708 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,399 Speaker 1: Bob and it has lived on in infamy ever since. 709 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: It's something that is perhaps even more hated than Bob itself, 710 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: maybe only because it's been persistent. Right we are, we 711 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: are talking about the font comics stands, comics sands. That 712 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 1: was a funt that was designed specifically for Bob, and 713 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,200 Speaker 1: it wasn't used in Bob, but that was then incorporated 714 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: in future Microsoft releases. And and this this funt has 715 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,439 Speaker 1: received a lot of hate, a lot of hate. Well 716 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,320 Speaker 1: it was it was created originally because Microsoft designer Vincent 717 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 1: Connair saw a beta of Bob and thought that time's 718 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: new room and was that was the font being used 719 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:28,239 Speaker 1: in it at the time. And he was like, there's 720 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 1: a disconnect between this fun, bubbly image that we're presenting 721 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,319 Speaker 1: and very terse formal font and so let's make something 722 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 1: that looks like it came straight out of a comic 723 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:45,320 Speaker 1: book and then reaping the rewards and accolades for generations 724 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,000 Speaker 1: to come. You know what, I don't hate comic sands. 725 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,359 Speaker 1: I'll come on say it. I don't but to really 726 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: love it, but I don't hate it. I know people, though, 727 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 1: who have a violent reaction to I hated. In business emails, yes, 728 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:00,080 Speaker 1: if I get a business email from someone, it's in 729 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,360 Speaker 1: comic sense. It's hard to take that email seriously. You know, 730 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 1: if it starts off with hey bozo, I'll go ahead 731 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: and read it, though, because then I'm like, all right, 732 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,200 Speaker 1: now you're on Now you're speaking my language. I got you. 733 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,839 Speaker 1: Now we're on the same page. There's some sort of weird, ironic, 734 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,720 Speaker 1: sarcastic email, and now I need to know what it says. 735 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think. I don't think I 736 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:20,360 Speaker 1: want to become a kind of hipster who uses comic 737 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 1: fans on on purpose in an ironic way. Yeah, you 738 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,839 Speaker 1: don't want your emails to have a giant mustache. Now 739 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,520 Speaker 1: I do not That's fair alright, So, um, do you 740 00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 1: have anything else you want to say about Bob before 741 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,279 Speaker 1: we wrap it up? I think I think that is 742 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:38,919 Speaker 1: the complete breadth and depth of the story. It's it's 743 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,560 Speaker 1: it's funny that we were even able to do an 744 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:43,479 Speaker 1: episode on this. When I first thought about I was thinking, 745 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:44,840 Speaker 1: am I really gonna be able to talk about a 746 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,279 Speaker 1: product that only was out on the market for less 747 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 1: than a year? It turns out yes we were because 748 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 1: there was a lot to There were a lot of 749 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,719 Speaker 1: good ideas that went into the development of Bob. They 750 00:40:55,760 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: just didn't get implemented in a way that was really useful. Actually, 751 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,080 Speaker 1: I do have one more story. I'm sorry completely lied 752 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:03,839 Speaker 1: to second to go about about the legacy of Bob. 753 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:08,120 Speaker 1: According to Raymond Chen for tech Net magazine, I know 754 00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:11,719 Speaker 1: this story when when when Windows XP came out, it 755 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,400 Speaker 1: came out on c D and there were maybe about 756 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: thirty megabytes of capacity left over on the CD, so 757 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,920 Speaker 1: thirty megabytes of free space, free space, sure, and they 758 00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: wanted to fill it up with some encrypted data that 759 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:25,120 Speaker 1: would be checked by the set up program as part 760 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,799 Speaker 1: of the installation and verification process. Right, Um, just just 761 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,080 Speaker 1: to you know, make make it a little bit more 762 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 1: difficult for pirates to download it, right by by adding 763 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:38,200 Speaker 1: thirty megabytes to the to the size of the file, 764 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 1: you would increase the download time significantly. Because remember this 765 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,600 Speaker 1: is back in this is not broadband time. We're talking 766 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,120 Speaker 1: about using a dial up modem. So if you're using 767 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,640 Speaker 1: a dial up modem to try and pirate software, thirty 768 00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:52,360 Speaker 1: megabytes might be the difference between I'll go and do 769 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:55,719 Speaker 1: it or no, I'm not gonna do it. Um but so, 770 00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:59,239 Speaker 1: but so instead of putting just random gobbledygook into that 771 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:03,120 Speaker 1: extra thirty eggs he um whoever was doing it, I'm 772 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,520 Speaker 1: not sure if it was. If it could have it 773 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,440 Speaker 1: could have been a brave woman in our in our 774 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:11,280 Speaker 1: technical industry. Um uh used used the entirety of Bob. 775 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 1: And that concludes this classic episode of tech Stuff. I 776 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:20,000 Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed revisiting this old topic. Hopefully we'll 777 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,440 Speaker 1: never see the likes of Microsoft Bob again, but if 778 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,480 Speaker 1: you have any suggestions for future episodes, let me know. 779 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:28,640 Speaker 1: Send me an email. The address for the show is 780 00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:31,239 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop 781 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:33,920 Speaker 1: me a line on Facebook or Twitter handle it. Both 782 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:36,759 Speaker 1: of those is tech stuff. Hs W. Don't forget to 783 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram people, you're missing out on amazing 784 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:50,160 Speaker 1: content and I'll talk to you again really soon for 785 00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:52,560 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, because it 786 00:42:52,640 --> 00:43:01,040 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com eight