The Lineage of Bob: Microsoft to IBM
January 8, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Product names have interested me. I am not too clever. I started “Beyond Search” in 2008. The name wasn’t my idea. At lunch someone said, “We do a lot of search stuff.” Another person (maybe Shakes) said, “Let’s go beyond search, okay.” That was it. I was equally uninspired when I named our new information service “Telegram Notes.” One of my developers said, “What’s with these notecards?” I replied, “Those are my Telegram notes.” There it was. The name.
I wrote a semi-humorous for me post about Microsoft Cowpilot. Oh, sorry, I meant Copilot. The write up featured a picture of a cow standing in a bit of a mess of its own making. Yeah, hah hah. I referenced New Coke and a couple of other naming decisions that just did not work out.
In October 2025, just when I thought the lawn mowing season was ending because the noise drives me bonkers, I read about “Project Bob.” If you have not heard of it, this is an IBM initiative or what IBM calls a product. I know that IBM is a consulting and integration outfit, but this Bob is a product. IBM said when the leaves were choking my gutters:
IBM Project Bob isn’t just another coding assistant—it’s your AI development partner. Designed to work the way you do, Project Bob adapts to your workflow from design to deployment. Whether you’re modernizing legacy systems or building something entirely new, Bob helps you ship quality code faster. With agentic workflows, built-in security and enterprise-grade deployment flexibility, Bob doesn’t just automate tasks—it transforms the entire software development lifecycle. From modernization projects to new application builds, Bob makes development smarter, safer and more efficient. — Neel Sundares, General Manager, Automation and AI, IBM
I gave a couple of lectures about this time. In one of them I illustrated AI coding using Anthropic Claude. The audience yawned. Getting some smart software to write simple scripts was not exactly a big time insight.
But Bob, according to Mr. Sundares, General Manager of Automation and AI is different. He wrote:
Think of Bob as your AI-first IDE and pair developer: a tool that understands your intent, your codebase and your organization’s standards.
- Understands your intent: Switch into Architect Mode to scope and design complex systems or collaborate in Code Mode to move fast and iterate efficiently.
- Understands your repo: Bob reads your codebase, modernizes frameworks, refactors at scale and re-platforms with full context.
- Understands your standards: With built-in expertise for FedRAMP, HIPAA and PCI, Project Bob helps you deliver secure, production-ready code every time.
The Register, a UK online publication, wrote:
Security researchers at PromptArmor have been evaluating Bob prior to general release and have found that IBM’s “AI development partner” can be manipulated into executing malware. They report that the CLI is vulnerable to prompt injection attacks that allow malware execution and that the IDE is vulnerable to common AI-specific data exfiltration vectors.
Bob, if the Register is on the money, has some exploitable features too.
Okay, no surprise.
What is interesting is that IBM chose the name Bob for this “product”, the one with exploitable features.
Does anyone remember Microsoft Bob? I do. My recollection is that it presented a friendly, cartoon like interface. The objects in the room represented Microsoft applications. For example, click on the paper and word processing would open. Want to know the time? Click on the clock. If you did not know what to do, you could click on the dog. That was the help. The dog would guide you.
Screenshot from Habr.ru, but I am sure the image is the property of the estimable Microsoft Corporation. I provide this for its educational and inspirational value.
Rover was the precursor to Clippy I think. And Clippy yielded to Cowpilot. Ooops. Sorry, I meant to type Copilot. My bad. Bob died after a year, maybe less. Bill Gates seemed okay with Bob, and he was more than okay with its leadership as I recall. The marriage lasted longer than Bob.
So what?
First, I find it remarkable that IBM would use the product name “Bob” for the firm’s AI coding assistant. That’s what happens when one relies on young people and leadership unfamiliar with the remarkable Bob from Microsoft. Some of these creatives probably don’t know how to use a mimeograph machine either.
Second, apply the name Bob to an AI service which seems, according to the Register article cited above, has some flaws or as some bad actors might say “features.” I wonder if someone on the IBM Bob marketing team knew the IBM AI product would face some headwinds and was making a sly joke. IBM leadership has a funny bone, but if the reference does not compute, the joke just sails on by.
Third, Mr. Neel Sundares, General Manager, Automation and AI, IBM, said: “The future of AI-powered coding isn’t years away—it’s already here.” That’s right, sir. Anthropic, ChatGPT, Google, and the Chinese AI models output code. Today, once can orchestrate across these services. One can build agents using one of a dozen different services. Yep, it’s already here.
Net net: First, BackRub became Google and then Alphabet. Facebook morphed into Meta which now means AI yiiii AI. Karen became Jennifer. Now IBM embraces Bob. Watson is sad, very sad.
Stephen E Arnold, January 8, 2026
Comments
Got something to say?
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
