27 Jun
1998
27 Jun
'98
2:41 p.m.
Bob was just a
dumb program.
Bob was touted by Microsoft as the way user interfaces would work from
that point on. It was seen as a way to bring computers to mere consumers,
and launched at CES with great fanfare IIRC. 
27 Jun
27 Jun
2:52 p.m.
On Sat, 27 Jun 1998, Tom Owad wrote:
What exactly is Bob? I've often see it mentioned,
but never with any
background to what it actually does.
Have you used Microsoft Word and had that stupid animated paperclip get in
your way? Thank Bob. Bob was basically a bunch of animated "agents" that
would detect that you were computer illiterate and then appear and offer
advice to save you from yourself.
I suspect that Gates was having an affair with the woman behind Bob, and
that's the real reason he made a fool of himself by backing it in such a
public manner.
-- Doug
3:01 p.m.
New subject: Olivetti M22
I picked up an interesting laptop from circa 1986 today, the Olivetti M22.
I've never seen one before, it has a very low serial number, and the only
reference on the net appears to concern production delays and second
thoughts about producing the thing, mostly because it has a 5.25" floppy
drive and was scheduled to come out just after IBM intro'd their
Convertible with 3.5" floppies.
So, has anybody ever seen one of these things before? Unfortunately, it
appears to have been left in a shallow pool of liquid: there is a small
amount of rust on the back end, and the manual has become an unreadable
organic thing that looks like it might be able to breed.
-- Doug
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