MS Bob - fun times with a failed operating system

review by ClifNotes, Sept 2006, permalink

I happened to run into this operating system while listening to a podcast from SecurityNow. They'd mentioned this website that lists over one hundred OS's that will currently run under MS's Virtual PC software. I haven't tried Virtual PC, but it sounds interesting.

While I was browsing that list of operating systems, I ran across an entry for MS Bob. MS What? I can't believe I've never heard of it. Then I found out that you can actually download it and run it on a Windows PC. Well, I just had to try it.

What is it, and does it have anything to do with Smiling Bob?

No No No! This OS won't enhance your mind or any other body part. It's been around long before Smiling Bob started smiling.

Quote from Wikipedia source
Microsoft Bob was designed to be a user friendly interface for Microsoft Windows version 3.1, replacing the Program Manager. The project was at one point managed by Melinda French, Bill Gates' girlfriend at the time. The two later married. At the time she left Microsoft she was Product Unit Manager for a group which included Bob and three other Microsoft titles. Microsoft originally had the domain name bob.com for the product but traded it to Bob Kerstein for the windows2000.com domain.

I also wrote one of my friends, who has contacts inside Microsoft. He was as curious about it as I was and later he wrote back.

Quote from BillAllin
Hi Clif,

MS Bob has been around publicly since at least 1995. It's purpose in life seems to have evolved over the years. As the blog said, it is basically a way to hold the hand of someone who is new to computers, so that they can learn how to do certain things in a cartoon type of environment. New modules have been added to it as recently as December 2005 and even this year.

The word I received was that it should not be considered an operating system. Kids might like it and adults who are reluctant about using a computer. Most adults will find it too simple in its presentation, so I was told.

I hope this explains what you wanted.

Cheers
Bill

This OS/Program failed to get any serious attention from business users. Even home users would soon tire of the constant hand holding and prompts throughout the experience. It does run well on my XP machine and I'm sure the kids will get a kick out of playing with it. It's a great baby-sitter and maybe it's not really a failure after all.

Below is a screenshot with links to the download and installation help pages.


click image to expand

Note: I'd recommend that you click NO, when the installer asks if you want Bob to run automatically when Windows starts up. Bob doesn't make any permanent changes to Windows. The only change I found was an entry in the autoexec.bat file.

When the install is done, just restart your PC and then go to your start menu and look for "Microsoft Bob" to run it.

Have fun with Bob!

Download MS Bob: Removed because of possible copyright violation
You can buy MS Bob at retroSoftware for $35 US.
Help page for installing: http://www.dans20thcenturyabandonware.com/ms-bob-setup.html

Many thanks to Dan Rose at 20th Century Abandonware for letting me know that the page I linked to was not freeware and may have been illegal copies. I will never recommend illegal software.

For those of you who tried this before you found out it was bad, please remove the software as I have done.


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