Meet Microsoft Rover, the original Microsoft Copilot, who turns 30 in 2025
Rover was capable of finding files for users, and even tell them jokes.
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Long before Copilot ever saw the light of day on Windows, Microsoft dabbled with the idea of a virtual assistant. If Clippy is on everybody’s mind when talking about old virtual Windows assistants, then you should know that it is not the oldest assistant created by Microsoft.
Instead, that title goes to Microsoft Rover, a cute virtual assistant dog that the Redmond-based tech giant first introduced in Microsoft Bob, a video-game-inspired Windows version that the company released in 1995 intending to make Windows a more friendly and family-oriented experience.
As you can see in the image below, Rover would appear on Microsoft Bob and would offer suggestions and recommendations to users while interacting with them.
Microsoft Rover was capable of many things, similar to what Copilot is capable of today in Windows 10, and Windows 11, however with a plethora of limitations, of course. But the tool was capable of finding files, editing them, showing users how to interact with Microsoft Bob, interacting with users, and even telling them jokes aka Rover’s Ramblings.
The Redmond-based tech giant later used the technology used to develop Rover for developing the more popular Clippy, which many Windows users now consider the original Copilot. Even though Clippy retained most of the Rover’s abilities, such as searching for files, editing them, and so on, Rover wouldn’t be entirely deprecated.
Instead, we can still experience the virtual assistant dog in Windows XP, where it is used in a more formal way to look around for files on Windows even search the Internet, or change certain preferences.
In a way, Microsoft Rover on Windows XP is a very rudimental, although effective Copilot, which helped XP users, back then, make sense of the new interface that Microsoft introduced with the legendary operating system.
Microsoft Rover is no longer available for newer Windows versions, such as Windows 7, 8, 10, or 11, and even though some users are willing to get it back, the Redmond-based tech giant hasn’t said anything about the old assistant.
However, in the age of Copilot, when Microsoft is flashing the AI tool up and down, it’s always good to remember that the company has been doing it for a long time: Rover, for instance, turns 30 years old in 2025.
So, while then it was maybe way too early for such technology, now it seems that the world is catching up.
