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Bubba parodies Microsoft Bob

By // August 27, 2008, 2:12 AM PST

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  • OsaSoft Bubba - Microsoft Bob Parody

    Arguably the most infamous product to ever come out of Redmond was Microsoft Bob. Bob was Microsoft's attempt to create an easier to use interface for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. It was the Edsel of software.

    Here's a parody of Bob called Bubba. Bubba takes a down-home twist on Bubba. Although originally developed for Windows 3.1, it still runs in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and even Linux.

    This is Bubba running under Windows Vista.

    Find out more about Bubba in Classics Rock: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/classic-tech/?p=169

  • Here's the original version of Microsoft Bob. Bob's main menu is a comfortable living room, but this is the Barn which was also included.

    As you can see, it's very Bubba-like.

  • When you start Bubba, you're greeted with Bubba Words Of Wisdumb.

  • Bubba is locked 640x480, so you can't resize the screen. When you do, you'll get a white border.

  • If you click Help, you don't actually get much help.

  • One of the books on Bubba's Bookshelf launches Control Panel.

  • Bubba's Control Panel launcher will even launch Vista's Control Panel.

  • You can launch a DOS prompt from Bubba.

  • In Vista, you get Vista's DOS box, not the standard Command Prompt.

  • Not all of Bubba's elements are active. If you click an element that doesn't do anything, you'll see this.

  • Some areas are supposed to launch other things. For example, the cards on the desk will launch Solitaire. If you click one of these things and they don't work you'll see this error.

    Bubba will then crash and you'll have to restart it.

  • You can create custom launchers in Bubba by modifying the books on the Bookshelf. If you click an empty book, you'll see this.

  • Because Bubba was written for Windows 3.1, it doesn't understand long file names. You have to use the DOS 8.3 abbreviations for long directory names.

    Also the program field is limited to the width of the box. If a program is too deeply buried in subdirectories, you can't point to it.

  • Firefox is on the shelf and ready to be used.

  • When you select a book, Bubba checks to make sure that you want to run it.

  • Bubba launching Firefox and TechRepublic.

  • Bubba will launch other Windows programs. Clicking the typewriter, for example, will get you Vista's Wordpad.

    The Pencil will get you Notepad.

  • You can run Bubba under Linux using WINE. It has the same limitations under Linux as it does under Vista - ie, the screen size is locked, the program will crash on unavailable programs, etc.

  • Bubba can control WINE and Windows programs in Linux such as the WINE Control Panel. It can't however launch Linux programs.

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OsaSoft Bubba - Microsoft Bob Parody

Arguably the most infamous product to ever come out of Redmond was Microsoft Bob. Bob was Microsoft's attempt to create an easier to use interface for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. It was the Edsel of software.

Here's a parody of Bob called Bubba. Bubba takes a down-home twist on Bubba. Although originally developed for Windows 3.1, it still runs in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and even Linux.

This is Bubba running under Windows Vista.

Find out more about Bubba in Classics Rock: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/classic-tech/?p=169

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