Bill Gates says Microsoft Bob will make a comeback

[steve2470]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57593736-75/bill-gates-says-microsoft-bob-will-make-a-comeback/



Bill Gates thinks that Microsoft Bob, or at least the concept, will come back to life as intelligent personal agents become part of everyday computing. Microsoft Bob, introduced by Gates at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1995, provided a virtual house with rooms and doors and cartoon character assistants to help users navigate Windows and perform tasks with Microsoft applications. For example, users could log in by clicking on a door knocker or launch the calendar application by clicking on a calendar hanging on a wall. (Read Harry McCracken's fine history of Microsoft Bob.)

Speaking Monday at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, the chairman said Microsoft Bob didn't get it right, but he thinks the concept will reemerge with a bit more sophistication. "We were ahead of our time," he said.

Microsoft Bob failed to impress users, who were content to live with their simple icons and folders and without cute dogs providing instructions in cartoon bubbles. Bob lived a brief, much pilloried life, exiting the stage in early 1996. But the idea persisted in the Office assistant helper, Clippy, also a subject of derision by critics and featured in Microsoft Office 97 through 2003.

The new generation of personal agents will be more adept at planning activities, such as organizing a trip in a certain way, Gates said. Microsoft Bob won't come back as a dog, but will morph into a disembodied voice from the cloud. Wrapped in the Windows 8 tiled interface, the new Bob will "understand" all that you do -- or are willing to share online -- as well as anticipate your needs and present relevant information anytime, anywhere, and on any device. So far, Apple's Siri and Google Now are alone in providing modestly intelligent personal assistance from the cloud. Bob needs to get back to work. In fact, he should talk to Larry at Microsoft Research.

[Scootaloo]

1. Clippy always freaked me the fuck out

Those eyes, those fucking eyes!

[Pelican]

7. Says the man with the creepy big eyed chihuahua avatar....

?w=740

[Scootaloo]

8. It's not a chihuahua!

...it's a pony.

[Pelican]

9. Chihuahua / Power puff girl hybrid...

[Scootaloo]

11. Same animator as the Powerpuff Girls, actually

But no, that's not creepy.

Clippy is totally creepy. He's a stalker! Always popping into your window when you don't want him. Staring. Staring with those eyes.

[SomethingFishy]

2. Bob is jealous of Siri.

Now DU can "debate" over which artificial intelligence is "right".

[olddots]

5. absolutely

MY BRAND IS BETTER THAN YOUR BRAND !!!!!!

[GeorgeGist]

3. More likely ...

Agent Mike.

[MineralMan]

4. If they do that, OsoSoft will issue a new version of Bubba

http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/bubba-parodies-microsoft-bob/218233

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/classic-tech/bubba-puts-a-down-home-spin-on-microsoft-bob/169

[hunter]

6. Bobby will return as the perfect sexting partner...

... with no danger of actual human relationships.

And someday you'll even be able to share a bed with a Bobby in a Microsoft brothel.

Oh Bobby! So tight! So big! Your Hot Hygienic Silicone Plastic!

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. C'mon, this is really a story from The Onion that slipped by, right? n/t

[deema]

12. Bye bye Bobby

I am sorry to inform the big guy, but I have already developed and released what, apparently, MS Bob had only dreamed it would become. Splinter is, from what I have seen of Bob, "Bob done right" on steroids.

I had never heard of Bob until a year after Splinter was made public. So it isn't a derivative or 'based on bob" or anything like that. It is my vision of what the desktop environment actually is, which is an entirely untapped and limitless universe capable of anything that can be imagined.

It is the world's first truly imagery based programming "language" and, as such, is able to be created with by the masses, not just the coders.

The latest demo video entitled Desktop Domination Demonstration shows the various genres of splinterfaces that I, myself, have already created. There are endless undiscovered genres that will be designed by the end user population, all in due time.

[gopiscrap]

13. Welcome to DU