The Notorious B.O.B.

Remember Microsoft Bob?

You know, Microsoft's non-technical desktop interface for Windows 3.1 easy enough for a chimp to use after a smoke break?


Kids and curious onlookers are riveted at the sight of a smoking monkey. But later, after the monkey extinguishes his Camel and saunters up to his Bob-powered word processor to tap out

It was a dark and stormy night

the crowd goes ape-shit.

Bobtoriousities

• Bob won 7th Place in PC World Magazine's list of The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time.
• Bob won 1st Place in the Top 5 Worst Products of the Decade made by CNET.com.

It's not all bad for Bob. The Microsoft Bob project was managed for a time by Melinda French, who later became Melinda Gates - which is a silver lining of sorts.

There are many note-worthy Bobs in history. There is English poet and dramatist The Bard of Avon, also known as Bobspeare. There's American rapper, and former honorary mayor of Brooklyn The Notorious B.O.B. And, would explorers Lewis & Clark ever have found the west coast without their loyal Shoshone companion Bobajawea?

Bobalicious Legacy

I have a soft spot for Bob.

Remember that yellow dog - Microsoft Bob's Rover? Rover is still found in Windows XP search. And today, I have two golden retrievers. Huh?

Bob's mugshot is now found in Windows Live Messenger as an ever-studious Smiley. Face it, Bob's face has become an icon.

The font Comic Sans was created for Bob circa 1994. Now Comic Sans is one of the most famous fonts in existence.

Failure usually has a flip-side.