Microsoft® Bob™ Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Bob is dead? Not even! Bob is more "alive" today than when he was "born!" When Microsoft Bob "died" in 1995, Microsoft didn't bury him in the digital cemetery of unused software -- they reincarnated him in a host of new Microsoft software products. Years later, Microsoft even incorporated the fundamental concepts of Microsoft Bob into versions of their Windows operating system. Microsoft has profited far more from Microsoft Bob's concepts than they ever did from Microsoft Bob itself. Featured below are some Microsoft products before Bob's release, and after Microsoft Bob, which show how Microsoft Bob "evolved" from previous Microsoft products and how Bob's "legacy" lives on in newer software to this day.

Pre-Bob Software Creative Writer 1.10 (1994) It looks like Microsoft Bob -- "assistant" with bullet-listed balloon prompts, cartoonish interface, even the mouse hole. This program has to be based on Microsoft Bob's concepts, right? Sorry, it's the other way around. Creative Writer 1.10 was released seven months before Microsoft Bob. The design and interactivity that would eventually be incorporated into Microsoft Bob was first featured in children's software, such as this program, Creative Writer 1.10. The "assistant" in this program isn't animated like the Personal Guides in Microsoft Bob. And the alerts in Creative Writing feature a different character, a dog named Spike that barks as the alert is displayed. This is a rare glimpse of what one of Microsoft Bob's predecessors looks like. The following programs are what could be considered Bob's "descendants."

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Encarta 96 World Atlas (1995) In the same spirit Microsoft Bob uses "personal guides" for help, Microsoft Encarta 96 World Atlas employs the help of "Cosmo," an animated character representing a world globe. Complete with bullet-listed balloon help options, Cosmo is always ready to offer a helping tip in every feature of this program. The menu for this program is built into Cosmo's "platform." When you click on Cosmo, he will get rained on by a cloud overhead, juggle an apple and an orange and then eat them, play with a paddle ball racket, sneeze and fall through a "hole" in the map -- then come back and erase it, get caught up in a fall wind, gaze affectionately at a crescent moon that floats by, get a phone call and answer it, dance to a congo-like tune, jump up and spin then land again, have a continent "peel" then push it back down, etc. One feature Microsoft Encarta 96 World Atlas has that Microsoft Bob doesn't is a button on Cosmo's "platform" that will make him appear or go away.

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Greetings Workshop 1.0 (1996) Microsoft Greetings Workshop 1.0 is actually the next version of Microsoft Great Greetings. Instead of requiring Bob to run, many aspects of Bob are built into Microsoft Greetings Workshop and it runs on Windows 95. This program even has a "sign in" just like Microsoft Bob's "Front Door," complete with default guest account. This program also contains the same sound effects from Microsoft Bob -- mouse clicks, error warnings, etc. There are also balloon help prompts on clickable items, and even a rendition of Microsoft Bob's "EXIT" sign. Upon starting Greetings Workshop, the program's only "personal guide," the term also used in Microsoft Bob, called "Rocky," comes bounding into the "room" interface and barks a couple of times. The filename installed on your computer, however, is named "Rover," referring to Microsoft Bob's Rover! In 1999, "Rocky" was included as one of the "assistants" in Microsoft Office 2000 and later.

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Office 97 Microsoft Bob lives on in Microsoft Office as animated assistants. In 1996, the concept of Microsoft Bob's "The Dot" and "Will" personal guides were incorporated into Microsoft Office 97. The style of Microsoft Office 97's "assistant" help interface is pure Microsoft Bob -- right down to the yellow, bulleted text balloons and bold title questions. A search engine is added to the interface. But instead of being transparent over the Office 97 application in use (Word, Excel, etc.), the "assistants" are enclosed in a window with a textured background. This window is unique to Office 97. Later versions have the "assistants" transparent against the active program, as the personal guides are in Microsoft Bob. Microsoft learned a bruising lesson with some of Microsoft Bob's over-zealous "friends." In Microsoft Office 97 they tone down the activity of their "assistants" and give the user options to mute their sounds and toggle on or off animation, and even close them.

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition Microsoft Bob on a Macintosh? Even Apple can't escape the wrath of Bob... The characteristic Bob interface is duplicated in near-perfect format in this Macintosh version -- yellow, bulleted text balloons, bolded title questions and search engine. This Macintosh version of Microsoft Office features one "assistant" encased in a window very similar to the PC Microsoft Office 97 version. Except this "assistant" is an animated classic Mac with legs and feet.

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Home Publishing 99 Microsoft Home Publishing 99 is a newer version of the "Hallmark connections" software series. Now called a desktop publisher instead of a greeting card maker, Home Publishing 99 gives the impression that Microsoft ended the "Bob interface." In reality, Microsoft Bob still "lives" inside Home Publishing 99 -- the only difference is there is no "personal guide." Many aspects of the Microsoft Bob interface are evident in this program. The familiar yellow, bulleted option windows with features not available in the main menu, automatic help "tips" that pop up every time you open a new feature or type text out of its printable area. These tips automatically appear and there is no option to disable them. They pop up repeatedly during the creation of a project. And when you click to save a project, a yellow tip box says, "Hold on a moment..." -- typical Microsoft "Bobbitizing" of a product. And, if you have a hex viewer, you can find "Bob" used in several varialble names in the main executable file.

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Office 2000 Microsoft Bob lives on in Microsoft Office as animated assistants. Microsoft Bob's legacy lives on in Microsoft Office 2000. After four years, "The Dot" is the only original surviving "personal guide" from Microsoft Bob. In addition to certain options retaining the blue bullet lists, the "Bob interface" changed slightly in Office 2000. Other options in the yellow text balloons have "idea" light bulbs for bullets. "Assistants" are no longer confined in a window. They are transparently superimposed upon the active program. Re-casting the "crew," a major "assistant shakeup" takes place in Office 2000. The Dot, The Genius, and Mother Nature are all transferred in their original likeness. Clippit gets a new look, and sits atop a legal pad. Office Logo rearranges its color pattern. "Power Pup" gets the boot and is replaced with Rocky. F1 replaces the Jetsons- looking "Hoverbot." Links replaces "Scribble." And Will is simply let go. "And so, farewell."

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Windows XP (2001) Six years after Microsoft Bob's release, Microsoft introduced the "assistant" into the graphical shell of the Windows XP operating system. "The more things change, the more they stay the same." In Windows XP, the text balloon interface now changes color to match the current color scheme, has multiple styles of bullets for options, list item show/hide buttons, and a vertical scroll bar when the window is too short to hold all the option items. "Rover," the default "guide" for Microsoft Bob, is now the default "assistant" for Windows XP's "Files and Folders Search" feature in Windows XP. Rendered in textured 3D, Microsoft must have trained Rover. He's more docile. But if you leave the search idle for five minutes, Rover will scratch himself with an audible sound -- prompting you to do something, just like he did in Microsoft Bob! Other "assistants" in Microsoft Windows XP include Merlin, Courtney, and Earl. And those yellow "balloon prompts" that pop up above the System Tray in Windows Me, 2000 and XP? That's "Bob!"

"Rover:" 1995-2001 -- From Bob to XP "Rover," that mangey little mutt, went from "old yeller" to "new feller" and took on a whole new look. Microsoft Bob's 1995 Rover is a 2-D sprite graphic with a cartoonish "flat" look. Windows XP's Rover is a 3-D rendered model with textured "skin" and more realistic motion. In 2001, Microsoft gave Rover a new life in Windows XP -- six years after being introduced in Microsoft Bob. I wonder how many people who see Rover in Windows XP know his true origin?

"Earl" -- Windows XP & Office for Mac OS X "This is my brother Earl, and this is my other brother, Earl..." Windows XP has an "assistant" named Earl in its File search utility. Microsoft Office for Mac OS X also has an "office assistant" named Earl. He doesn't look anything like XP's Earl, though. These are two different "Earls." -- both "descendants" of Microsoft Bob. Credit: The Mac image was donated by Emme D.   Thanks, Emme!

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Office XP (2002) Microsoft Bob's presence continues in Microsoft Office XP -- 7 years later. The yellow, bulleted text balloon interface lives on. The venerable old diehard, "The Dot," survives in yet another version of Microsoft Office. Yet another "assistant turnover" takes place in Microsoft Office XP. Clippit, The Dot, F1, Office Logo, Mother Nature, Links, and Rocky retain their same identities. Merlin pulls triple-duty in Windows Me's setup, Windows XP, and Microsoft Office XP and replaces "The Genius."

Bob LIVES?  Microsoft Bob in Visio 2002? Close, but not quite. Yet close enough to scare any BOBophobe. This, Microsoft's second version of Visio to carry its name, but the first fully released by Microsoft, has a subtle hint of "Bob" included in the form of a help "search." In place of a Microsoft Office animated "assistant," is a search field that offers options in the form of a drop-down list. This list has the same blue-bulleted hyperlink options and same font style as the "Bob-style" text in Microsoft Office. Apparently, even Microsoft knew not to "Bobbitize" Visio too much. Giving it animated "assistants" and balloon-text captions would have changed its perception from a serious diagramming system to a Romper Room "Etch-a-Sketch" toy.

Bob LIVES!  MSN Messenger 6.0 This is the first version of MSN Messenger to have "emoticons" -- little pictures expressing emotions for use in instant message correspondence. One of these "emoticons" goes by the name of "Nerd smiley." It is actually BOB operating under an alias! Once again, Microsoft sneaks Bob into a new program's features.

Bob LIVES!  But is Kris Dancer an "assistant relative" of Bob? While looking a lot like the textured 3-D "wizards" in Microsoft Windows Me's startup process, Windows XP, and Microsoft Office, "Kris Dancer" is not a "wizard" or "assistant" that is part of a process to help in a program like Bob's "friends" or Microsoft Office's or Windows XP's "assistants." Kris Dancer is more closely related to the Internet-famous "Dancing Baby" program of the mid-1990's because, like the Dancing Baby program, it is merely an animated audio/visual entertainment program. Like Dancing Baby, Kris Dancer dances to music and that's all. The original Dancing Baby program was created in 1996 with 3DStudio Max and Character Studio with demo files that shipped with the product and has animation by Michael Girard, Robert Lurye & Ron Lussier. Dancing Baby is Copyright © 1996 Burning Pixel Productions & Ron Lussier.

Bob LIVES!  Microsoft Windows Vista (2007) 12 years after Microsoft Bob's "birth," Bob lives on in another version of Windows -- Windows Vista. The colors have changed. The fonts are different. And there are colorful icons added to Vista's message "balloons." But this is still the legacy of Microsoft Bob living on in Windows Vista. Unlike Windows XP, there are no "assistants" in Vista. Will you miss them?

Bob LIVES for real!  Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit OK, you love Microsoft Bob and you want to make him run on your 32-bit Windows XP PC or your fancy 64-bit Windows Vista PC. There is a way -- Microsoft Virtual PC! It is possible to have the real, full Microsoft Bob running on a virtual "hard drive" just as if Bob was running on a physical hard drive in an older system, complete with all the animations and sounds Bob is famous for. No longer do you need to find an old, beat-up PC at a garage sale or thrift store to run Microsoft Bob. Get Microsoft Virtual PC and run Microsoft Bob just like you did all those years ago. BOB LIVES!

Do you know of other programs Microsoft Bob lives on in? Please tell me! << PREV

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Updated: 04/29/2009
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