In 2004, Microsoft was selling a $20 software package that put dancing characters on your taskbar

I remember downloading a massive virus on the family desktop because I downloaded this guy

bruhh 😂

Missed opportunity for the breakdancing girl.

😂

🎦old internet

also there was stripper version of this

yeahh

I had one but with strippers XD

😳

I had something like this, but it was a girl pole dancing 🤣My mom was pissed when that shit happened. Good old limewire days

bro 😂

@WelfareGrok haha

There also was a stripper version of this

woah

Yep... VirtuaGirl or some name like that if memory serves

And 10 years before that.... kids would download what others would call "widgets" today. You could have dogs, cats, aliens... just hopping around randomly doing tricks for treats on your screen.

i wanna go back to those days.

Windows xp

+1

lol

Did it include Tayne?

Now we are putting it in codex

modern characters

Life was easier and much more fun

low cortisol

The real 'aha' moment is recognizing these tiny dancers are not real humans filmed, isolated, and made miniature as an unnecessary and relatively expensive addition to the taskbar, they are digital avatars, CGI creations two-stepping before our two eyes with zero awareness by us.

I just realized this video was on a MacBook Pro.

damn! it looks old btw, intel-based chip

Core duo or core 2 duo

Back when technology was nearing its end of its goofy and fun era.

We paid twenty dollars to make our computers worse and we were thrilled about it

now people are paying $20/month to see their AI-agents (mascots) move around.

@Vixhal generation gap lmao

Early internet culture felt like a shared secret club. Bandwidth limitations forced creativity. There were no corporate templates or engagement metrics. You built things because it was fun, not because you were optimizing for likes.

Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition

I remember installing one with naked girls. Hehe. Good times.

Ok that’s epic Microsoft

no doubt.

And before that, there was strippers on taskbar 😂

There was a free equivalent that put as many sheep as you wanted all over the place. They'd walk along the top of windows and fall off the edge. They were great!

good old time

I used it.

wish i was born earlier.

We want it back

a couple days ago I started up the Microsoft OS and the sticky notes I had open started deleting as if I was holding backspace and they conveniently autosaved. a reboot did fix the backspace problem though

which version?

the newest one, 11 I believe

Sheep.exe was free. Miss those little guys.

Virtual Girl did it better

it's 2026 and you don't have a dancing character on your screen at all time???

haha, this is SO cool

iStripper flavored it. I think it still works.

The original NPC!