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Microsoft Bob was a Microsoft Software product, released in March 1995 , which provided a new, nontechnical Interface to Desktop Computing operations. Despite its ambitious nature, ''Bob'' failed to penetrate the market and was one of Microsoft’s more visible product failures. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer named Bob as one project "we {Link without Title} undertaken ... where we decided that we have not succeeded and let's stop."1 ORIGINS Microsoft Bob, designed for for the windows2000.com domain.3 FEATURES ''Bob'' included various office suite programs such as a finance application, and a Word Processor . The user interface was designed to be helpful to novice computer users, but many saw its methods of assistance as too Cute and involved. Each action, such as creating a new text document, featured the step-by-step tutorials no matter how many times the user had been through the process; some users considered this to be condescending. Users were assisted by cartoon characters whose appearance was usually vaguely related to the task. These characteristics earned ''Bob'' the 7th place in PC World Magazine's list of the 25 worst products of all time 4 and worst product of the decade by CNET.com . {Link without Title} Despite its many previous guises, ''Bob'' CARTOON GUIDES ''Bob'' featured a diverse selection of "guides", representing an early form of the Office Assistant and Microsoft Agent technologies. Each guide possessed its own unique "personality" and had its own array of animations. The guides annoyed some critics of Microsoft Bob {Link without Title} .
LEGACY Microsoft Bob has been widely panned in reviews and popular media. In a series of internet cartoons showing the demise of the Office Assistant , one worker says to Clippy, "Next to Microsoft Bob, you are the most annoying thing in computer history." Some designs of the ''Bob'' cartoons are still used in other Microsoft products:
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