Microsoft BOB 1.00
Released in 1995 by Microsoft
For Windows 3.1
Image quality: Used
Microsoft BOB is a Windows 3.1 graphical shell intended for novice
users. It presents your desktop as a series of "rooms" with various
selectable objects, and assists you with a friendly animated guide.
It features vector based graphics that scale to any size or
resolution screen, supports user profiles, and includes rudimentary
editor, calendar, address book, and checking programs. It was created
as a response to Packard Bell Navigator and is somewhat comparable to
Apple At Ease and 3DNA.
Aside from being too "cutesy", it flopped largely due to price, lack
of OS/application integration, lack of OEM pre-installs, failure to
showcase installed software, or lack of any real purpose. Arguably it
was successful as a tool for crushing Packard Bell.
Other similar dumbed down applications include Microsoft Creative
Writer and Microsoft Fine Artist. The animated guides were later
re-used in Microsoft Office 97. The only known shipped retail product
that runs within BOB is Microsoft Great Greetings.
This version contains 3.5" DMF disk images.
Important: To write these images, you need a disk writer, OS and
floppy drive that supports DMF. Windows XP or later and USB floppy
drives can have problems with this. Alternatively, use WinImage to
extract the files from the images.
Archive includes seven 3.5" 1.44mb/DMF disk images.