10 Facts About Microsoft Bob

Microsoft Bob is a Microsoft software product intended to provide a more user-friendly interface for the Windows 3.

Microsoft Bob presented screens showing a "house", with "rooms" that the user could go to containing familiar objects corresponding to computer applications—for instance, a desk with pen and paper, a checkbook, and other items.

Microsoft Bob was released in March 1995, although it had been widely publicized prior to that date under the codename "Utopia".

Microsoft Bob included various office suite programs such as a finance application and a word processor.

Microsoft Bob offers the user the option of fully customizing the entire house.

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Applications built into Microsoft Bob are represented by matching decorations – for example, clicking on a clock opens the calendar, while a pen and paper represent the word processor.

An edition of Microsoft Bob was bundled with the Gateway 2000 computer around 1995.

Microsoft Bob received the 7th place in PC World magazine's list of the 25 worst tech products of all time, number one worst product of the decade by CNET.

Microsoft employee Raymond Chen wrote in an article that an encrypted copy of Bob was included on Windows XP install CDs to consume space to prevent piracy.

Use of virtual assistants in Microsoft Bob later inspired Clippit, nicknamed "Clippy" the paperclip, the default Office Assistant in Microsoft Office.