Microsoft® Bob™ Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation
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One of Microsoft Bob's best attributes is the wealth of productivity software incorporated into it. Included are an address book, a
personal information manager (PIM), a financial management program, information about home management and finances, a word
processor, an e-mail program, and a geography educational program.
Microsoft Bob allows you to be productive with your computer without having to purchase extra software at additional cost. Featured below are descriptions and access to 407 screen shots of the application software integrated into Microsoft Bob 1.0a. |
 Where Are The Programs? Since everything in the Microsoft Bob "social interface" is a graphical picture, sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between what is functional -- a program icon or a "door" to go to another "room" -- and what is just a pretty decoration. If you press and hold down the F1 key, Microsoft Bob's "prompts" are replaced by "markers" that show you where program and other functional items are in a "Bob Home room." So, let's take a look at the application software in Microsoft Bob, shall we? |
 Bob Address Book 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Looking like a tabbed notebook binder, Bob Address Book features a pre-filled address database of over 500 addresses and e-mail groups (current as of Aug. 1995), alphabetized letter tabs for browsing, a search engine, forward and backward page browsing arrows, enter up to four names for a single address, fields for name, address (2 lines), city, state/province, ZIP or postal code, country, phone numbers for home, fax, work, work 2 and two others, and a multi-line notes section. Other features include an animated birthday cake icon and an envelope icon beside each name entry. Clicking the cake icon opens a "special days" dialog that allows you to enter up to four special days and their dates. The envelope icon opens a dialog for entering an e-mail address. It only allows one e-mail address. You can add, edit, move, copy and delete address pages, open, create and delete address books, send address books to other Microsoft Bob users, and make the address book shared or private. More Bob Address Book screen shot images: Splash Screen | Address Books | Mailing Lists |
 Bob Calendar 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob Calendar is a personal information manager. It features day/week/month views with event entry, event reminders from the actual time of the event, 15 minutes before, 1 hour before, 1 day before, 2 days before or 1 week before the event, recurring events, to-do list with completion checkbox, etc. In day view is a window containing word of the day (aplomb?), holidays and events of special days of the year and their origins in history, "EcoTips" -- ecological quotes from leading ecologists, and the phases of the moon. Week view gives you event entries for all 24 hours and for seven days in a grid-like table. Month view gives you a full month table. Click on a day of the month to enter events. A prompt asks for the time of day (hr:mm) and the event duration (hr:mm). Calendars can be shared with other user accounts or made private. More Bob Calendar screen shot images: Splash Screen | Week View | Month View |
 Bob Checkbook 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob Checkbook uses a different "Personal Guide," called a "specialist" and "checkbook expert," to help you. This "specialist" is called "Lexi" (short for Lexicon). Bob Checkbook is similar to a simplified edition of Microsoft Money. You can keep track of checking, savings, cash and credit card accounts, deposits, withdrawals, enter expenses and get reminded when they are due, write/print checks, pay bills on-line with Microsoft Bob's Pay On-Line service, track transactions in account registers, use the dozens of income and expense categories/sub-categories to speed entering transactions or enter your own custom categories/ sub-categories, reconcile accounts, void checks, list bills in the "bill basket," create, view and print reports in the "report folder" for spending, income, income vs. spending, account balances, savings, credit cards, upcoming bills, taxes and transactions, navigate between program sections using the pen menu bar and tabs at the bottom of the checkbook, open, create, rename, save to floppy, back up or delete Bob Checkbook files, password protect your files, export Bob Checkbook files to Microsoft Money, import Microsoft Money files into Bob Checkbook, and more. That face...it looks familiar.... The first time you start Bob Checkbook, "Lexi" will: More Bob Checkbook screen shot images: View 12 screen shots of miscellaneous Bob Checkbook features. View 11 screen shots of the entire Bob Checkbook tour. View 72 screen shots of the entire process for setting up Bob Checkbook. |
 Bob Clock 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob Clock is just that -- a clock that displays your computer's system time. There are several styles of clocks that can be displayed, including one with Microsoft Bob as the face of the clock. Bob Clock also has an alarm that can be set to any hour/minute of the day and can be displayed in either 12-hour or 24-hour format. |
 Bob E-Mail 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob E-Mail uses the dial-up, modem-based MCI Mail service to send e-mail to other Bob users, AOL, CompuServe and other e-mail services. The mail "desk" is composed of an In Box, Out Box, a Discarded Mail "slot," and five personal boxes that can be custom labeled. E-mail messages can be composed using either the Quick Note Writer (Bob's e-mail editor) or Bob Letter Writer. Quick Note Writer makes it easy to send an e-mail to multiple recipients and attach documents or files. When finished, Bob asks if you want to send the message or keep it to send at a later time. When you are ready to send your message(s), Microsoft Bob dials the MCI Mail service and sends your e-mail. There are options to check for new mail, change your account information, etc. In Bob E-Mail, when you delete messages, "Rover" chews up a purple tennis shoe -- a routine done only in Bob E-mail. Where's a muzzle when you need one? Note the typo in the last sentence of the screen shot above. It should read, "Who knows what's waiting out there for you?" Quality Control is not what it used to be. More Bob E-Mail screen shot images: View 12 screen shots of Bob E-Mail. |
 Bob Financial Guide 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob Financial Guide contains business information about a variety of topics. They include banks, bonds, buying a car, buying a home, college and university, consumer credit, estate planning, insurance papers, life's milestones, mutual funds, retirement planning, savings strategies, stocks and your home. Many of the categories allow you to record important financial information in database form "lists." For example, "Your Home" provides two categories to record information; Home Equity Loans and Household Inventory. The second one alone can be a big help in keeping track of possessions for insurance and other reasons. Recorded information is automatically saved when you exit. It can be printed, shared by other Microsoft Bob users or made private. Along with items to store information in is a large volume of text information in each of the 14 categories. It is broken down into relevant sub-categories and can also be printed. It is interesting to note that while Microsoft Bob changes "Personal Guides" and brings in a "specialist" for Bob Checkbook and GeoSafari, it does not do so for Bob Financial Guide. If you have a boisterous guide, such as "Rover," it can distract you with sounds and antics while you're perusing the content of Bob Financial Guide. A Frightening Thought. The following disclaimer is stated on the Bob Financial Guide "splash screen": "Textual information may not be accurate or complete and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional." Why would Microsoft put potentially inaccurate or incomplete "textual information" into Microsoft Bob? Such potentially erroneous information could mislead people to make potentially disastrous financial decisions. How many people have made financial decisions based on the "textual information" in Bob Financial Guide, not noticing this disclaimer that only pops up for a fraction of a second when the program is started? Have you? More Bob Financial Guide screen shot images: View 140 screen shots of the entire "list" and "textual information" of Bob Financial Guide. |
 Bob Household Manager 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob Household Manager offers both text information and databases to store information similar to the Bob Financial Guide. Household topics include auto information, cleaning, collections, gifts, health and safety, home maintenance, household records, kitchen information, moving, personal growth, scrapbook, pets, sports and activities, and vacation. Read advice on topics ranging from emergency items to keep in your automobile, getting organized, removing stains, vacation packing tips, home safety and security, medical checkups, and more. There are a variety of databases for keeping personal records as well. From collections of books, coins, music, photos, software, stamps, videos, sports cards and wines to auto maintenance records and mileage to gift ideas, gifts given, gifts received and clothes sizes to household tools, outdoor tools, home maintenance, home projects and repairs to personal goals, ideas, kids activities, books to read and movies to watch to caring for cats and dogs (no databases for birds, fish, gerbils, frogs, or turtles...), recipes, kitchen gadgets, appliances and the all important shopping list to score databases for baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis, fishing catches, sailor's and pilot's logs to things to do before going on vacation. These databases can be shared with other Bob users or made private. Another Frightening Thought. The following disclaimer is stated on the Bob Household Manager "splash screen": "Textual information may not be accurate or complete and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional." Look familiar? It's the same disclaimer that is stated on the Bob Financial Guide "splash screen!" Again, why would Microsoft put potentially inaccurate and incomplete "textual information" into Microsoft Bob? Inaccurate or incomplete information could lead to misinterpretation and could have potentially harmful results. How many people have based household activities on the information in Bob Household Manager? Have you? More Bob Household Manager screen shot images: View 108 screen shots of the splash screen and complete "list" and "textual info" in Bob Household Manager. |
 Bob Letter Writer 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation Bob Letter Writer is Microsoft Bob's word processor program. It only reads and writes TXT and RTF files. It features a toolbar, one of the most advanced features in Microsoft Bob, which has one-click icons to change font, pitch, bold, italic, underline, left, right, center, block justify text, spell checker that offers to check "the whole letter" or just the first word of the document (the first word?), copy, paste, cut text, and undo (the red X "eraser" of the "pencil" toolbar). Other features include redo, move highlighted text, full-page preview with browse, print the entire document or a page range down to one page, print mailing labels, send as an e-mail, embed sound (WAV) files, insert graphics from Bob Letter Writer's clipart collection of 21 categories of pictures, save documents locally, to floppy, or share them with other Microsoft Bob users. Bob Letter Writer also includes Microsoft Bob WordArt 1.0. This is a similar version of WordArt to that included in Microsoft Word. It can give text up to 36 different shapes, 24 shaded patterns, 16 different foreground/ background colors, make all letters even height, go "vertical" which actually turns all the letters on their side, rotate text left or right (to make horizontal "vertical" text actually vertical), shadow text using 8 different angles and/or 16 colors, or use your "assistant's suggestions" pre-formatted WordArt styles. More Bob Letter Writer screen shot images: View 12 screen shots of Bob Letter Writer. View 10 screen shots of Bob Letter Writer's Microsoft Bob WordArt 1.0. |
 GeoSafari for Bob 1.0a Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation GeoSafari for Bob is a third-party educational program developed for Microsoft by Lobotomy Software, Inc. Like Bob Checkbook, GeoSafari for Bob uses its own "specialist" as a "Personal Guide" to help you throughout the program. His name is "Hank." GeoSafari is a score-based quiz program that tests your knowledge on several geography topics. Full quizzes include geography questions on Africa, Asia, Canada, Eastern Hemisphere Capitals, Western Hemisphere Capitals, Europe, Continents and Bodies of Water, Middle America, Our Solar System, South America, USA Attractions, USA Capitals I and II, USA States I and II, World Greetings, World Flags, World Landmarks, Random Quiz, and All-Pack Random Quiz. There are also two "Quiz Pack Previews"; Animals: Predator, Pal, or Parasite, and Science: Volcanic Landscape. These previews have only a few sample questions and the concept was to order the "full" quizzes via a toll-free telephone number. Options let you set the time to select an answer from 0-60 seconds, restart a quiz and select a new quiz. All questions are multiple-choice answer and you get three chances to select the right one. If you see Hank dancing, you're taking too much time between events. More GeoSafari for Bob screen shot images: View 12 screen shots of GeoSafari for Bob. << PREV NEXT >> |
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Updated last on 01/01/2009.
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