MS Had A “Bob”?

bobhWell, Bob’s on the loose, following its introduction at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. Should that matter for business users of PCs? Should you care about Bob? Maybe even put Bob on a test machine, to see what the shouting’s all about?

No, yes, and absolutely.

You can’t actually buy Bob yet, of course. Microsoft’s new “social interface” GUI for Windows PCs won’t be released until the end of March. But there are a lot of beta copies floating around, and given the growing importance of Microsoft’s Consumer Division, Bob’s home, you can bet that this is going to be one of the most widely publicized products of the year.

So whether you have a copy yet or not, you’ll be answering questions about Bob every day. Which makes this an issue worth discussing for IT managers, even if we have no plans to adopt it.