I'm glad to say that I never had the obviously frustrating experience of working with Microsoft's failed attempt at a simplified GUI--Microsoft BOB. The idea was to do some extraordinary things with the GUI--trying to make things look more familiar to a computer-illiterate audience. I had lot of fun reading this review and trying to figure out how BOB attempted to fill this niche. In some ways it resembles a graphical adventure game. Explore the rooms, examine items, talk to characters (in this case, a dog). I am reminded strongly of Brenda Laurel's work on interface design: Relate abstract OS functions to everyday household or office functions the user is already experienced with. View the computer as medium rather than a tool. I can see a philosophy like that undergirding Microsoft BOB. The critical fault seems to be good idea, poor implementation. Maybe instead of an annoying barking dog, MS should have opted for a humorous android like Kryten from Red Dwarf or Floyd from Planetfall. Heck, even the robot from Lost in Space would've been more suitable than this Pluto wanna-be. I could see entirely different "themes" for BOB--perhaps one could be film noir. I'd also want to make the "game" aspects more pronounced, so that the BOB was in some ways a destination rather than merely a means to an end.

What do you all think? Was BOB just a stupid idea from the get-go, or was it merely a victim of sad implementation?