Ode to a paperclip: Microsoft says farewell to Clippy

by Brad Linder Feb 10th 2007

Sometimes when you're trying to figure out how to embed a table in a Word document, you need a little help, and you turn to a paperclip. Clippy, the animated paperclip has been Microsoft's way of providing MS Office users with assistance and annoyance ever since Office 97. But on his tenth birthday, Microsoft has finally put Clippy out of his misery, leaving him out of Office 2007 altogether.

Sure, he also had a tendency to pop up while you were typing and wouldn't go away no matter how many times you told him to, but that's what annoying friends are for, right?

AppScout has an interview with Office's Group Program Manager Jensen Harris. Some interesting Clippy facts:

Microsoft's been phasing out Clippy since Office XP. In Office 2003, he was turned off by default.
While there's been little negative feedback about Clippy's death, Harris says some users have complained that they miss Microsoft's animated dog.
The goal wasn't so much to kill Clippy as to have a single way for users to find help, rather than including menus, toolbars, and an animated office assistant.

[via Engadget]

Tags: clippy, microsoft office, MicrosoftOffice, office assistant, OfficeAssistant

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ryan Sullivan said 5:49PM on 2-10-2007

Rest in peace my friend who I always checked that box to make you never appear when I used to use word.

*Pours a 40 oz. onto the street for my homey Clippy*

Andrew Schrock said 7:31AM on 2-12-2007

Might microsoft have downloaded a clue?

File under "interface design gaffes."

Matt Vaughan said 10:20AM on 3-21-2007

http://newsbiscuit.com/article/paperclip-from-word-quits-microsoft-for-apple-039

This is the real story, I believe...

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters