WEBVTT - Techstuff Classic: What about (Microsoft) Bob 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:14.160 stuff Works dot com. Hey there, everybody, Welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.440 I'm Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at how Stuff 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:19.800 Works and I love all things tech in. Today is 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:25.120 another Friday classic episode of tech Stuff, and I alluded 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.880 to this in an earlier episode that published this week. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.120 This is an episode that originally published on May nine, 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:36.159 two thousand thirteen. It is titled What About Microsoft Bob? 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.199 And in this episode, Lauren Voge Obama and I go 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:45.520 and revisit a beloved, enormous trash fire of a piece 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.599 of software called Microsoft Bob. It was an attempt at 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.080 making a graphic user interface for the common person, something 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.480 that anyone could grasp, and it was about as big 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:01.840 a misstep as you can imagine. So enjoy this classic episode. 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.360 We're gonna tackle Bob and we're gonna wrestle him to 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.600 the ground and probably give him noogies. But then so 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.720 did the rest of the world. Yeah, if you don't 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.520 know what Bob is, don't feel badly about it. It 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:18.960 was one of the biggest flops in Microsoft history, I 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.319 think one of the biggest flops and kind of history 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.040 period Time did this list of the fifty worst inventions ever, 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.520 Time magazine. Time magazine, Yeah, back in, back in, and 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.920 Bob was on there. I mean along with like tanning 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:35.640 beds and hydrogen blimps. Hydrogen blimps not such a great thing. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:40.600 Microsoft Bob possibly worse. It's killed killed fewer people, killed 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.800 fewer people, But people dreams died that day when Microsoft 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.280 Bob came out. Yes, that this was an interface for 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.920 Windows three point one, and then later came out, Yeah 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.280 it was. It was also for Windows in t So 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:56.640 here's the thing, here's the thing. We're talking about era 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.720 where the personal computer is starting to get some serious 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.560 try action, but still is not in most homes. In fact, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.080 Microsoft when they were talking about designing Bob and the 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.799 launch of Bob, they were predicting that by I think 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.160 it was n that PCs would be in forty six 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.480 percent of households, and and and this was that this 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.040 was a forty six percent in the incredible future. The 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.120 idea of being that is a really big number. That 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.320 Microsoft's crazy to think that that many people would have computers. Well, 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.720 the problem that Microsoft had identified as something that they 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.680 needed to solve with brute force is that that someone 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.400 who is unfamiliar with computers might find the operation of 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.680 such a device to be intimidating and difficult, and the 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.480 learning curve might be too too steep for your average 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.640 person who was not already familiar with computers. And certainly 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:49.720 before Windows three point one came out, when it was 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:56.680 just doss on say, just doss operation, I'm simply saying 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.120 that it was perhaps not the most friendly thing to 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.799 greet a person just just lines of code on a screen. 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.040 I didn't need a friend, I needed an operating system. 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.160 That's what Does gave me. And that is kind of 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.440 that is kind of what what McIntosh was doing at 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.560 the time. And and and Apple was was kind of 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:13.799 kicking a lot of button that arena because they were 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.200 giving people something more friendly, more user friendly, and a 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.880 little bit more intuitive, right, keep in minding, of course, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.640 Apple had a big jump on other computers because the 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.440 Apple too was a very popular personal computer among mostly 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.440 hobbyists and people who were interested in computers. Because again 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.600 that was that was in the line command days, we 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.640 had the type stuff in when Apple introduced the Macintosh 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.480 and the graphics user interface, Apple of course was not 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.800 the the company to invent the graphics user interface, but 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.480 they were the first ones to really successfully implement it 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.000 in a personal computer platform, and people liked it. It 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.480 was one of those things where things just made more sense. 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.760 It was it was it was a little more intuitive 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.480 than having to type and memorize all these different commands 0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.560 that you would type into just get your computer to 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:04.680 douce stuff. Well, Microsoft wanted to kind of um create 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.120 its own graphic unit user interface, and that was the 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.640 genesis of the Windows program. But even then they thought 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.640 there's gotta be a way of making this simpler for 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.440 the average person. Now, to really look at the development 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:18.119 of Bob, you have to go back a few years 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.560 before Bob was a thing. And so back in Microsoft 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:28.200 launched a program called Microsoft Publisher. It's a desktop publishing program, 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:32.440 and it was the first program from Microsoft that included wizards. Now, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:34.880 wizards are not you know, it's not Harry Potter coming 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:39.159 out and waving a lawn saying regard en leviosa or 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:44.040 a loha mora or uh avauta cadavera. It's instead a 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.640 little a little help pop up. Yeah, that's supposed to 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.240 guide you through a complicated process step by step. So 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.080 This was a big help for someone who maybe was 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.400 not familiar with this particular process or very rarely used it. 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.760 And uh, and would just follow along on the directions 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.360 as opposed to having to thumb through a four page manual. 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.640 Right and and and Microsoft Publisher was was pretty popular. 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.640 It was designed by Karen Fries and Barry Lynnette. Yeah, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:13.479 and Karen Fries is going to become important in a 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.640 little bit and uh and right when when they were 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.040 you know, they had finished with Publisher, it was out 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.040 in the world. It was doing great, and they were like, 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:21.880 what else can we do? What is our next project? 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.080 We want to keep helping newbs. I'm not sure if 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.279 news was a term. Yeah, no, but that's that's that's 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.440 exactly you know, we're going to translate it for the 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.080 kids of today. We're really the kids of about six 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.680 seven years ago. But anyway, yes, uh. They wanted to 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:39.640 continue to develop software that would help people who otherwise 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.840 would be unfamiliar and maybe intimidated by software. So that's 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.120 when they started to look into the possibility of developing 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.800 a full graphics user interface designed with these nubes in mind. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.440 Originally they were calling it Data Wizard, and then that 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.000 eventually had the code name Utopia, but by the time 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.400 time it was finally going to launch, it had of 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:06.400 course changed to Microsoft. Bob was designed as an alternative 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.480 interface as as Lawrence said earlier for Windows three point 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.599 one and even Windows and TU It's supported programs designed 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.640 for BOB, So it supported its own programs designed for 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.240 that operating system or rather that user interface. Uh. It 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:27.240 also supported Windows programs and it supported DOSS programs. So 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.080 the idea was that this would be able to support 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.320 anything that a person would want to run on a PC. 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.200 So but but you know, through through this filter that 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.839 would allow people who are unfamiliar with computers to to 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.400 set everything up the way they would want it, you know, 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.919 with with minimum complication. Right. So, so Karen Fries became 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:51.320 the the project lead for this particular project. The lead 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.480 developer was a guy named Gabe Newell. Do you recognize 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.680 that name? Gabe Newell. Newell was one of the co 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.920 founders of Valve. Yeah. So Gabe Newell all, so, uh, 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.520 someone who in his post Microsoft years, which are the 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:09.200 last like two and a half decades, has been um, well, 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.560 I guess I say last two decades has been more 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.960 than a little critical of his old company. Uh, he's 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.080 He's definitely leveled some pretty hefty criticisms against some major 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:23.520 Microsoft releases. But he worked on on Microsoft Bob. Maybe 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.240 that's what kind of left a certain bad taste in 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.640 his mouth or something. I can see that. Uh. And 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.080 the the person at Microsoft who was kind of overseeing 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.200 the whole thing, who was guiding it was uh, well, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.160 when she first started working on the project, her name 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.800 was Melinda French, but then kind of in the middle 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:46.000 of it, she became Melinda Gates. Yes, so Bill Gates's wife. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.720 Melinda was the head of the whole marketing marketing side. 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:52.840 But also, you know, she was essentially kind of like 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.000 the face. She was a cheerleader, but certainly which which 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:00.640 led some people to suggest, perhaps snarkily, maybe not even 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.800 perhaps narctly, just definitely that the reason why Bob went 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.720 as far as it did was because of who was 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.920 behind it, as opposed to the merits of the operating system. 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.640 But let's be fair, the idea behind Bob was solid. 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.880 It was a solid idea of let's create something that 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:24.480 is very accessible and intuitive and comforting, and and they 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.480 tried to use some really hard data to support their 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.360 design decisions. They actually uh contacted a couple of professors 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.560 from Stanford to act as project consultants, Clifford Nas and 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:40.640 Byron Reeves, and they their their area especially it was 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.800 figuring out, well, how how do people communicate, how do 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:48.440 they access information? How do they process information? And their 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.920 point of view is that the more natural you can 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:56.280 make an interaction, the more readily someone will understand it 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.200 and adapt and want to interact with it. Exactly, So 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.400 you have to create an environment that it just it 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:09.040 feels natural and makes sense. Now that's obviously a very 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.199 a very clear motivation. I mean, we we've seen that 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:16.880 in products since I think the iPad is a great 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.840 example of that. It was a design where it's very 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.200 intuitive to use. You give an iPad to a kid, 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.400 that kid masters the iPad and no time flat without 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.800 ever having to ask how something works. Yeah, they've they've 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.040 they've done those those great studies in in Africa with 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.000 kids who can't even read, have never been exposed to 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.280 anything like this before, and they just take off with it. Yeah, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.640 So I mean that that's sort of the idea here. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.160 They wanted to design something they had that same sort 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:47.080 of approach and appeal so that they could help people 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.839 who otherwise wouldn't be intimidated by computers. So in January seven, 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.319 Bill Gates took the stage at c E S and 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.280 unveiled Bob. He showed off also a future project that 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.800 was Bob related called p D, which was a c 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.520 G I parrot that could respond to verbal requests. And 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:15.000 then on March one, they released Microsoft Bob. Uh, the 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.800 full retail price if you're buying the full thing, was 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:23.720 as but it mostly sold that around which still pretty 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:27.440 expensive software. Yeah yeah, and by comparison today due to inflation, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.120 that would be worth about a hundred and forty so 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.960 whereas Windows eight costs about ninety on the market. Yeah. Yeah, 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.720 so it definitely was a little expensive. It said on 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.200 the box that did not come with a manual, but 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.040 it came with a manual, or at least it was 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.720 called Bob's Magazine, so it was trying to be packaged, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.960 not as manual, but it was a twenty nine page 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.080 list of instructions. And uh, did you hear about Microsoft 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.640 Press and the book that they published. I I did 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.200 not what happened? They published a book called At Home 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.920 with Bob. At Home with Bob, which was a companion 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.559 guide and it was two hundred and ten pages long. Goodness, 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:07.000 miss a lot guide for something that doesn't need a 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.480 guy to Yeah, that's when you don't need a guide. 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.480 You go wholeheartedly down to your Microsoft. I teased them, 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:19.319 I certainly couldn't build a graphics user interface at all. 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:26.400 So let's talk about what Bob was really like, How, 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.360 how how what kind of operating our user interface was it? 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.800 Just for perspective, real quick, um, Bob was was dead 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.520 in the water by early To give you an idea 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.840 of how well this went. Microsoft pulled the plug in 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.959 ninety six. So when it went less than a full 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.760 year before, Microsoft said all right, this is this is 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.360 not gonna work. And we'll get into why they made 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.440 that decision. And some people might even argue that it 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.240 was kind of a like the deck was stacked against them, 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:59.640 that the Bob was not as horrible as it was 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.160 given at it. I disagree for one major reason, but 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.680 I'll get into that in the in a little bit 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.000 later in the podcast. So, so here we have the idea. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.960 The whole idea is, let's create a graphics user interface. 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:16.800 It's very relatable and easy to use and and intuitive. 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:22.200 How did Microsoft go about it? What was Bob? Bob 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:26.120 was a it was a house. It was it was you. 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.440 You enter Bob's house, and in Bob's house, there are 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.440 visual representations of everything that you would hypothetically want to 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.240 do with your computer exactly, Like like there's a there's 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.560 a living room that you're looking into, right, so and so. 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.120 Instead of a desktop where you have icons that you 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:47.000 click on, you're looking into a clip art living room. 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.600 Vector graphics. Yes, two and fifty six colors, super fancy. Yeah. 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:57.920 If if you don't, if you've never seen pictures, link them, 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:02.280 it's spectacular. Anyone who's used any of the old Microsoft 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.480 Office products that had lots and lots of clip art 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.320 in them, and you've looked through those clip arts and 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.320 you thought, wow, that's what Bob was made up of. 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.000 And there was a lot of animation involved. Every everything 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.880 was kind of cute. See yes, everything was very cartoonish. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.800 And you had a personal assistant, series of personal assistants, 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:22.679 and the one that it came the standard one, the 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:24.640 one that would just be there as soon as you 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.640 started up, was Rover Retriever. The personal assistance would later 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.360 come into play in versions of Microsoft Office, like Microsoft 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:36.520 Office nineties seven. We'll get into that too. So, um, anyway, 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:39.640 you're that your guide when you first start off as 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.240 Rover Retriever, you could change him later, and I think 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:43.800 that'll be fun to talk about when we get into 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.560 the features. I've got a list exciting, Yeah, I got 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.280 I got a couple of things I want to say 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.400 about some of those those guys. But before we do that, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:53.200 I want to I want to talk about what it 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:58.800 was like to first enter to just so, so I'm 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.080 just gonna I'm gonna paint you a picture with words. 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.600 So you activate Microsoft Bob. You know, you've installed it 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.200 on your computer, assuming your computer could run it. We'll 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.760 get into that too. And when it first starts, you 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.959 are greeted by the sight of a big red door, 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:17.560 and in the center of that big red door is 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:22.160 a gold door knocker, and that door knocker says Microsoft 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.560 Bob on it, So you have to click on the knocker, 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.000 which then makes the knocker knock on the door. And 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.720 you didn't have to have a sound card with Bob, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.560 but it was recommended because there were many noises, so 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:38.240 many noises, including one such your personal assistant would occasionally 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.760 make at you, but you would knock on the door 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.400 and Rover Retriever shows up and says, uh, hey, I 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.000 see you're trying to break into my house. Actually he says, yeah, 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.240 I know you're coming in. Uh click on who you 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.360 are and a little list pops up. Now, on your 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.520 first visit, there's no one. You can't select a name 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.440 because you haven't gotten and registered one yet, so the 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:03.560 only voice that's there is guest. So guest was there 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.280 so that you could let a friend log in without 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.520 having to create a full account and use your computer 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.320 to do whatever the right, so you could click guests. 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.280 But if you did click guests, then you would get 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.080 another message from Rover, who would say, are you sure 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.320 you don't want to go ahead and create a profile? Well, 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.880 I didn't really see that option earlier, but sure, why not. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.680 Let's let's let's make a profile. So Rover would then 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.840 ask if you are new to the home or if 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.960 you had once been on the list, but now can 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.800 no longer find your name on the list because one 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.800 of the things you can do is add and remove people, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.360 or really you can remove people from the list once 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.520 you've joined it. So this would be something like, let's 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.280 say that you know you've kicked your no good son 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.440 out of the house because he's thirty four and really 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:55.880 he needs to go and make his own way in 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.280 the world. Now, I'm just using this as a hypothetical. 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.000 I don't have a kid, and if I had a 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:02.680 kid who was thirty four and have a lot of 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.800 explained to do. Anyway, so you kicked your thirty four 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.800 year old son out of the house, and you've changed it. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.480 You've removed him from Microsoft Bob. So if he does 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.280 come back, he's not gonna be able to use the computer. 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:15.680 That would be the reason for that, right, So you 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.280 would have to answer that question like are you new 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.080 or were you essentially kicked off? And so let's say 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:23.760 that you're new. You know, this is your first time 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.760 using Bob. You haven't alienated yourself from your friends and 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:31.480 family yet. So you click on new. Then it asks 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.520 you to enter in your first name, your preferred name, 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.120 your last name, your hometown, your birthday, and your gender, 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:43.000 which you could set to not telling. But every yeah, 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:46.560 every single field required you gotta film and and this 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.680 will come back later because these little these little cartoon 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.760 guides needed to know things about you so that they 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.760 could talk to you about stuff. Yeah, yeah, they did. 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.480 So you filled this part out. Now are prompted to 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.240 create a password for your account. And one of the 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.200 funny things I thought about this was that it actually 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.119 explains to you what the asterisks are as you type 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.640 in your password. You know how the password field starts 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:12.960 filling up with asterisks, because if it showed you in 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.600 plain text what the password was, that wouldn't be very secure. Yes, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.399 someone staying behind you can see it, and so it 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:23.480 actually explains that concept. And again, Bob's designed for people 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.359 who are brand new to computer right, No, no, I 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.920 I can see someone, um, you know, for example, my 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.720 grandmother plays a lot of solitaire, but is mostly confused 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.240 about other things on computers that could be useful. Right, 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.320 So so yeah, if you're sitting there thinking, wait, I 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.560 didn't hit the asterisk button, why is that popping up, 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.960 it would actually explain it to me. It sounds silly 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.359 simply because I've been using computers for so long it's 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:46.400 hard for me to even imagine that. But then again, 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.720 I was not the target market for Bob. Uh I'm 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.840 not sure who was. So then after that point, after 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.359 you created it, you had to type in your password 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.480 a second time. Uh, and if you mistype the password 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:00.080 the second time, you would get a prompt telling you 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.000 that it did not match the first pass where and 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.840 you had to try again. That's gonna become really important 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.359 in a little while. So next you would then, once 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.240 you get through the password creation process, you would enter 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.520 in your actual address and time zone, so not just 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.320 your hometown, your full address. And again it's required, so 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:18.600 you have to put the whole thing in there and 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.040 the time zone that you are in. Then you would 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.760 have to create at least one private room. So remember 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.399 Bob is a house. Most of those rooms in that 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.840 house are public when it starts off, which means that 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:34.560 anyone who joins on to your computer can access those 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.600 public rooms. But if you wanted to create a private 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.840 room where only your stuff would be, like you know, 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.720 programs that you only want to have access to, you 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.480 could do that. Um. So, if if you wanted to 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:47.800 access a private room, you would have to be logged 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.679 in under that I D so, uh, Lauren would not 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:53.919 be able to go into my room because of that, 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.240 except we'll talk about how she totally could do that 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.240 pretty soon. And then finally, the last step would be 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.040 that you would it would ask you if it wanted 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.680 to import other programs besides the Bob programs that came 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.639 standard with Microsoft Bob. So I would ask if you 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:16.080 wanted to import Dawson Windows programs. Uh. That step is 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:18.960 absolutely necessary. If you had completely lost your mind to 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.320 decide to use Bob as your graphics user interface for 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.800 everything and say I'm not using any other interface at all, 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.919 just Bob, you would need to be able to import 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.359 those other programs. So that's the that's the process of 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:37.320 creating your Bob account. We're gonna talk about the the 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.080 the different features of Bob, the software that came with it, 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.359 some of these uh, some of these assistants everything once 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:46.399 that door opens and uh, and I'll start off with 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.439 the big security flaw right after we take a short break, 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.240 all right back to Bob. So you know I mentioned 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.320 that there was a big security flaw. So Lauren, UM, 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:07.600 let's say that you you have got Microsoft Bob. I've 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.240 got a profile on there, my password, You've created a profile, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.760 You've created a password. Whenever you need to log in, 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.119 you have to put your password in, and you have 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:18.639 one of the one of the pieces of software, and 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:20.679 we'll talk more about them in a minute, but one 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.600 of the pieces of software there's is Bob is Bob's Checkbook. 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.639 The idea that's a financial software so that you can, 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.320 you know, manage your home finances. So presumably there could 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.440 be some pretty pretty private information in that. And let's 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.520 say you've you've thought of that, and you've actually put 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.320 that particular program in your private, private room. So yes, 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:41.879 it's not in a public room, so I'm not gonna 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.919 just have it across it stumble through it. Right. If 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.600 it were in a public room, that would be bad. Um. 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.920 But you've created your password and everything, and then I think, huh, 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.920 I really want to learn what Lauren's bank account number is. 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.000 So I try and log in as Lauren. When you 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.320 try and log in, uh, and you don't have the 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.040 right password. After three attempts, it says, I you know 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.160 that's not the right password. Do you want to reset 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.160 your password? And you say yes. Instead of it then 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.679 taking you to like sending an email or linking you somehow, 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.359 there's because it's looking for nubs. It's saying, well, I 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.480 guess I'll just let you reset your password right now. 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.280 So I could then reset Lawren's password, so not only 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.560 would I have access to her account, I would lock 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:27.240 her out have access to my account anymore. Wow, that's 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.399 until you tried to enter the password three times and 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:31.600 then you could reset yourself, and so would essentially just 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:33.960 become the two of us resetting that password over and 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:35.640 over and over again, until you gave up and said, 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.320 I do not want this on my computer. Huge, huge 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:44.200 security flaw. Nothing is private. Well yeah, that's uh, that's 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.159 the idea. I had not heard about that part of it, 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.560 and that is very special. And I wouldn't even need 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:50.919 to have an account. I mean, all I would need 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:53.240 is access to your computer because just going in as 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.280 a guest, I could do that. And uh yeah, so 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.879 there was no such thing as privacy or security with Bob. 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:05.080 It had this just ridiculously massive vulnerability. Uh. And you 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.040 might as well not even have a password system at 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.080 that point, because if all it takes is three failed 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.520 logins and then you can reset the password, that's that's 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.240