Ever since I was a young boy
I’ve played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all
But I ain’t seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
He’s a pinball wizard
There’s got to be a twist
A pinball wizard
He’s got such a supple wrist!!!
“The only truly failed project is the one where you didn’t learn anything along the way.”
This sounds absolutely like the kind of thing Liono would say at the end of an episode of “Thundercats.” I guess an appropriate response would be “Snarf!”
For BOB to be success we needed guided stress on this.Many people don’t even know it existed !!
Wow – turns out the Pinball 2000 project had an alternate take of full 3d emulation! It was called VIDBALL:
There was even a “risque” mode that would unlock later at night with some adult themed tables (!)
To give Melinda French Gates credit, she had a great sense of humor about the whole MS Bob project:
Gates, who helped lead the development of Bob, says the hardest moment in her life was giving the first public demo of Bob in 1995 after the negative reviews had landed.
“I knew I was going to get killed,” she recalled. “So I walked out onto the stage with a t-shirt that had Microsoft Bob’s face on the front. I turned around, and on the back, I put a big bullseye. Now, it got some laughs at the demo, but more importantly, it was a reminder to myself that I signed up for this, that the chance to take big risks is exactly what I love about tech.”
And even though Bob continues to make tech media lists for being one of the “worst inventions ever” long after it was discontinued in 1996, Gates cautions people that even the best innovators can be surprised by what succeeds with consumers.
