During the development of Windows XP, the engineers had discovered that there were about 30 MB of free space on the installation discs. The idea was to exploit them and occupy this space in order to complicate the illegal copy. According to Windows Centralthe team therefore decided to integrate a encrypted version of Microsoft Bob.
More specifically, Dave Plummer, a veteran engineer from Microsoft, explains that he has crushed the compressed trays of Bob in a single file. He then quantified them several times completely randomly to create an “pile” of indistinguishable data from the installation files of Windows XP on the CD.
This method made it possible to create an element of confidence on the CD, verifiable by the installation program of Windows XP. The integration of BOB therefore increased the size of the installation files, which, at the time of limited internet connections, thus complicated the copy and distribution of illegal versions.
