Filed under: Office, Microsoft
Ode to a paperclip: Microsoft says farewell to Clippy
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.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
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*
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Andrew Schrock said 7:31AM on 2-12-2007
Might microsoft have downloaded a clue?
File under "interface design gaffes."
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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...
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