Next piece of odd Windows software to cover: Bonzi Buddy? Thoughts? EDIT: I DID IT kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gp9la9Z-35fPh6c.html

im still using bob to plan and list all my divorces

I'm a Hollywood screenwriter who was actually hired (with my partner Rob Muir) to write hundreds, if not thousands of little dialog bubbles filled with quips, questions, and suggestions for the Dog and Clippy, etc. Imagine coming up with 50 ways to say "Do you want to open the drawer?" LOL! Insanely fun to see this. I honestly had forgotten about our experiences on this assignment. Thanks!

The world is still not ready for me

Honestly, I'm kinda charmed by the laid back feel of this OS. The instruction manual disguised as a magazine, the name and the logo, it's all just quirky and creative. It's just, an OS isn't the best place for this.

I think BOB would've been better if it was marketed more towards elementary schools, libraries, young children, and elderly.

I saw a "plan your divorce" option in that financial list program 😰

I was a kid and grandpa had this on his PC, I adored everything about it, I won't lie. This is such a nostalgia trip.

_Life's Milestones:_ After the honeymoon Caring for an older parent Daycare *Divorce*

Honestly having that @bob email address would be quite the novelty

I find it funny how Bob is essentially a shell for Windows, which itself is a shell for DOS So Bob is like a double inception shell

When I was in pre-school, someone actually had this installed on the only school computer in the classroom. I thought is was the coolest ever because I was a little kid and computers in general were not something I got to use very often

I bet there is some old guy somewhere who still uses Bob to this day. It's like, set up on a computer in the corner of his living room with a crocheted doily on top of the monitor.

Comic Sans was developed for Bob and the Office Assistants (Which were more than just Clippy/Clipit) grew out of Bob, so I think it’s still fair to blame Bob for both things. My favorite Bob “feature” was that if you get a password wrong a bunch of times, it says you must have forgotten your own password and asks if you want to change it. Security!

15:21 You summed it up in tht one sentence "it was designed like a childrens application ... that mainly dealt with keeping lists, doing your taxes, sending business correspondance, and managing program executables" I think MS completely misunderstood the concept of "user friendly". That means easy to use. Easy to use means not drowning people in information but giving them simple succinct information. Bob actually overcomplicated things, but they thought that by painting pretty pictures and having the really really long winded user manual put in a speech bubble of a dog that never leaves you alone, people would somehow like it. It doesn't. It just stifles productivity with all the fluff and relentless jibber jabber. Customising your home has nice gimmicky value..... but if you want to play a game you play a game, if you want to do something productive you do something productive. This is neither.

What I learned from this: Clippy was a result of the Mandela Effect with Clippit.

I definitely would have liked this as a kid. I would have put all my programs in creative places in all the rooms. Too bad it was so expensive !!

I cracked up at *Favorite Food: AC/DC*

I was 15 when Bob came out. As a 9th grader, i thought it was really cool and really cute. Helped my little brother navigate windows. I knew everyone was laughing about it but we liked it. Fast forward to 1999 and we all had the Tahni desk mate!

The early days of computers were so funny, we had the technology, but we just didn't fully grasp what it was for.

In a way it seems Bob was also ahead of its time: The guided simplified interfaces are now common on mobile devices. Of course without all the skeuomorphism.

So, so love revisiting the 3.1 era. I'm one of the many who never used Bob, but I do remember reading about it in Popular Science before it debuted. Thanks for the awesome video!

I genuinely would own an actual home entirely in that early 90’s “postmodern” style I love the way this all looks

This actually looks adorable. I would use a modern version of this

I remember that yellow dog...haven't seen that puppy since XP 😂

There was a school version of microsoft bob on our school computers between 1999 and 2002. You logged into a classroom environment and your programs were on the bookshelf as names on the spines of the books. There was a printer on the shelf and you logged off by clicking on the classroom door. The school desk had a word processor notepad you could open and had file folders for your files. It was only one screen, but I remember liking it in kindergarten when we had computer time because it made sense for little kids who couldn't read well yet when windows 95 was very text based.

The house layout seemed too cutesy for it's own good. Reminds me of a Jumpstart game

I like Rover’s design in Bob :( I like how he looks hand drawn.

*Home.exe has stopped responding* *Still trying to open the fridge*

Bob Clock Sets Alarm Alarm rings *rrring* IT'S BOB'O'CLOCK

*Microsoft Home "Bob 2" (Release date: 2020)* - 3D Graphics, up to 8K resolution - Unlimited AI-configured houses - Social Networking & Video Calls - Includes a VR Headset - Cortana virtual assistant 😂

This is actually a really cute and relaxing little program - I've never heard of it before but I'd use the hell out of it lol

I was a toddler when this was new, and it today boggles my mind that we used to have to pay for email, and internet by the minute.

Duplo Lego blocks are pretty bad compared to standard Lego blocks. But we need Duplo so that unsupervised kids don't gouge their eye out with the edge of a brick. Bob is Duplo.

The Sims: Checkbook Balancing Expansion Pack.

_”Wish that I had five dollars.”_ *Proceeds to take out electric guitar.* And this folks is what I call, having the style.

8MB required, wasn’t that at a pretty hefty sysreq at the time?

oh hello neighbor i didnt know you also lived on fart street

So, I used this as a kid and I absolutely loved it, I thought the games were fun and I had a pet dragon and a lava lamp!

It's definitely a nice idea in principle - I remember seeing a similar thing in PC World sometime around 1997-2001, and being so enamoured with it I went home, drew a picture of a room in MS Paint, set it as my wallpaper then stuck shortcuts to programs all over it on the shelves and so on.

So dogs talk in Comic Sans? Vincent should be very pleased that Comic Sans is used for Doge.

The speaker assistant’s favorite food is AC/DC (8:00). 😂

Wow, an actually civilized and rather positive comment section. What kind of video site are you, and what have you done to my KZfaq?!

Oh man, I played with MS Bob so much as a kid at my friend's house. I remember all the different themes, characters, etc. Thanks for those memories!

I remember having this on our computer when I was little. It must have come pre packaged with the machine cause I'm pretty sure I was the only one who used it, and I pretty much just played around with designing a house and playing with the assistants. I think I remember putting a lot of time into organizing other games we had on the computer into different rooms but I'm not sure I ever used the program to launch them. I guess this was just The Sims for me before that existed. Still have fond memories of it.

15 EMAILS A MONTH!? WOW! That must be the stuff of the FUTURE! *sigh*

the idea of B🤓B seems pretty cool. They should give it another try, with some improvements of course

Review encarta 98... The pinnacle of my youth :)

Man, this this video was nostalgic bliss for me! Back when I was a kid, my parents bought our first computer and it came with a ton of games (mostly demos/shareware) already installed. Microsoft Bob was one of the programs it came with, and as far as I was concerned, it was a fantastic game. Didn't care about all the "apps" and barely even touched them, but I spent countless hours customizing my personal world. It was unlike anything else I had experienced at the time. I guess I would compare it to something like Cities Skylines now. I didn't really play it with any goal in mind. It was just a really fun way to spend time using my creativity to make a crazy mansion to explore. I also liked the various Clippy characters, though they would undoubtedly drive me crazy now. But at the time, it felt like there were other characters sharing the mansion with me, which somehow made the whole "world building" experience more worthwhile. It wasn't until years later that I realized it was actually intended to be an operating system of some sort. From that standpoint, I get the criticism. But as a kid in the 90s, it was sort of my version of Minecraft. I can honestly say I miss it. Thanks for revisiting it!

I used MS Bob for a while (but not in-depth). I loved it. I liked decorating the house and "living in it" while I opened up different apps. After a hard day at work, it was relaxing and entertaining. I never understood all of the hate.

13:53 Greeting cards?!? Pshht, with those designs, I'm making Dixie cups!

Dont forget to like, comment, and subscrib--**VOMITS** UGH -A greeting card. 2018.

Microsoft Bob's true and greatest legacy was the MSN nerd emoticon. What a great way to tag saying something obvious or flagrantly stupid.

I recall being able to copy the "Actor" files (.act) out of Bob and moving them into the folder that Office checks, and you can get the Bob assistants there. And vice versa, you can move the Office assistants into the Bob folder. (or maybe it only worked one way and not the other). Anyways, I don't recall any webpage or article ever talking about this, and it was pretty strange to experience. Try it out!

I kinda wish it was still around. I would love to use this program.

17:09 Rover moves his mouth in time with LGRs

I think what the world needs is a painfully in depth several hours-long video detailing the state of modern computing in an alternate history where Bob caught on like Microsoft hoped it would.

Stop treating Bob like a red headed step child. He's now a man. Treat him as such. Call him Robert and show some respect.

I actually used this program when it came out for my grandmother. She found it so easy to use even though she didn't understand technology. It was easy enough for her to go "Oh that's a calendar, let me put in some dates." It was extremely helpful. I work in IT and was given this as a gift years back. I wouldn't have payed $100 for it.

Why do I have a feeling an iPhone/Android version of Bob would actually do kinda well??

Now I kinda want to write software for the Bob... did Microsoft ever release an SDK or documentation or something? Just out of curiosity, I think modern-day third party software development for the Bob would be hilarious

Its so 90s it hurts!

I had this as a kid on my first PC and had a blast with it!! I really enjoyed redecorating the rooms and stuff. It was fun. A lot of unnecessary hate imo.

69 Fart Street... Nice

You didn't mention what I thought was the most infamous thing about Microsoft Bob, which was that, if you couldn't remember your password, after a few unsuccessful tries, Bob would just say, okay, let's make up a new password for you! In other words, the password security wasn't password security at all! It was basically a mockery of password security that seem to be designed for children, children who don't care about secrecy?

They should have made Bob for Windows Phone. It would have been a massive hit, EVERYONE's favourite assistant. Siri? heh. Google assistant? please. Cortana? get out of here. Bob. That's where it's at. Bob, decorate my home screen - here's a lava lamp , got you fam.

So Microsoft Bob was the 1st version of Windows 8.

My father was a computer specialist when I was a small kid and he still fixes them on the side. We had this, I remember it, because he worked in a computer store. I only remember the characters on it and the house looking desktop thing. I was around 7 born in late 1988. Watching your content brings back so many memories I forgot I had.

BoB will also run at higher resolutions and color depths. The whole thing is vector graphics, so it scales up nicely. Here's an example from ToastyTech toastytech.com/guis/miscbbigbob1.png

My dad got a copy from his work (why they had it, I can't say), and we installed it on our underpowered Dell PC. I played with this for HOURS. It was like the home designer for the Sims, with fun cartoon characters that made jokes I didn't understand! Can't say whether this would ever have been really useful for anyone, but could easily have been made into a fun kids' game.

My friend had this and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Her dad made good money and I was the poor kid in school. Her dad got all the latest technology in the 90s and I was always in awe. I really loved this. If you compare it to technologies today it seems lame, but as a young kid in the 90s, especially one with no experience with a computer, it was awesome!

the dark humor in your typing combined with your pleasantly upbeat delivery is hilarious

Hey LGR you were spot on. When i was a kid we had MS BOB come free packaged on a gateway machine. My father never touched it but I LOVED playing on it. I was elementary school age and greatly enjoyed customizing an entire house. I imagined the little assistants were actually more fun and interesting than they were. I enjoyed making a room for all the computer games we had. Hell every application i touched i made an icon for. It was simply more fun as a kid to use BOB than the standard MS GUI. Great review, cheers.

Bob looks like a useful program for back in its day. I don't get all the criticism. Could you please do a video on Bonzi Buddy? It was the "must have" spyware when I was a kid!

I remember seeing Bob on sale at Kmart way back when. Thanks for the video, I've never actually seen Bob in action!

Thanks for the video. I did see this product in Wal-Mart around that time on the store shelves. I never used it myself because I thought it was pointless. Folks who told me they used it suffered from slow computer performance given that they were running two operating systems together on systems with the slow processors and limited RAM for inexpensive computers.

Surprised it didn't offer up the special "BDSM Dungeon" room as an option.

I would have LOVED this as a kid.... I LOVED organizing my desktop icons in designs and stuff, would have been awesome.

When you drag and resize the flower vase, and clicking it brings up a menu quickly reminds me of my old windows 7 futuristic rainmeter.

"we had to put the dog down when we got windows 10". A 2019 kid talking to his 90's version. Cue heart attack from 90's kid

The desktop house deal is very ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣ． I sort of want one. It’s so stinking 90’s

B😎B

Seeing this makes me wonder if you will ever cover the Packard Bell Navigator program.

I have a vague memory of my preschool having Microsoft BOB. Maybe it was on a family member's computer. Anyways, what I do know for sure, is that I have definitely seen BOB sometime during my childhood. Enough to have it make a lasting impression on me. Watching this video unlocked a very old memory. Thank you.

I miss search puppy. I don't know what his name is, he's "search puppy" to me. :)

I am honestly terrified that Microsoft Hololens will turn out to be a AR version of Microsoft Bob...

I can't believe you opened mint copy of Great Greetings! :O Thanks for another awesome video! :D

Wow it’s been over 2 years since this video. Clint’s voice is the perfect thing to hear when trying to sleep. It’s soothing for some reason.

Half of the programs are just re-skinned spreadsheets!

I loved Microsoft Bob. I was a kid and sometimes the Bob shell would somehow get ShareWare games to run when Windows could not. My sister and I spent hours customizing the house and moving things around. Maybe it wasn't great for adults, but it was really fun for kids to play. I came with our Micron computer in for Windows 95.

Honestly, stuff like this fascinates me, if someone made an updated version of this, I'd probably check it out.

When you say there has been a couple of alternative GUI applications for Windows 3.1, can you recall some other names? For the sake of nostalgia I am looking for a specific one which my uncle had installed back in the 90s. It had an office look but more realistically rendered than Bob. No comic style. You could shut down the PC by clicking on the window showing a garden. Any idea what this could have been?

The dog (Rover) was so cute especially as an assistant on Windows XP. I installed MS Bob once but I thought it made no sense.

I was devastated when we upgraded to Win 95 and lost Bob. As a 9 year old in 94 Bob was absolutely exciting to me.

Drinking game: shot every time he says 'barb'

great video. great research and description as always. thank you

Just imagine a Linux desktop environment based on this.

It looks painful to try and get anything done in this, with all those really basic productivity apps in that thing and your assistant constantly chatting over whatever you're trying to do. As a kid, I probably would have enjoyed decorating the house and putting all my favorite programs in special places, but everything else looks really clunky and inefficient to actually use as your main computer interface and programs.

As someone who's fluent with the concept of a "Desktop", Bob looks far more confusing than just using the Start menu.

Reminds me of the front end set up people were using HyperCard (1987) on the Mac for, Though Hypercard was insanely flexible. Despite it's limitations it was light years ahead of BoB.