The End Of The Paperclip

A number of people have noted the demise of the paperclip assistance in Microsoft Office has been confirmed - so please stop submitting the story. The C|Net story talks about how it's going to be part of the new advertising campaign and gives the web address. The idea behind the paper clip was good - The Economist had an interview recently with the guy who wrote the original using Bayesian algorithims. It was canned because it "didn't come up often enough" MS felt. We'll see how the new help system works, I suppose.

Comments

Disabling the damn paperclip

[MAXOMENOS]

I shouldn't have to spend 15 minutes configuring an application that is supposed to be good as soon as it's installed.

It takes about 30 seconds in Office 2000:

1. Click on paperclip to bring up a dialog balloon
2. Click on "options" button
3. Uncheck "Use office assistant" box.

Now it's gone indefinitely.

To bring the paperclip back, click on Help->Show Office Assistant

Hope this helps

ObJectBridge (GPL'd Java ODMG) needs volunteers.

Re:It's not really gone.

[Rombuu]

They're intelligence tests. Enjoying Dogma and detesting Clippy are prerequisites for intimate relations.

Do you really have so many potential dates that you felt the need to create an elaborate filtering system?

Pity? I don't think so.

[devphil]

and you have to pity the poor VP when the *only* reaction he got from the crowd was a massive cheer when he said that clippit was off by default.

No, I don't have to pity him. I scorn him and their "[un]usability engineers" for not listening to feedback until years after Clippy was released. For looking at the beta testers who swore and smacked the monitor every time the little fscker popped up, and writing off those testers as somehow ignorable.

For providing a service that when used once in any any application, becomes on by default in every application (even when you've manually disabled it), those morons deserve all the laughter and ridicule they can get.

I'm not trying to sound bitter and spiteful about the issue, it's just that I am bitter and spiteful, so that's just how I come out sounding.

Re:It's not really gone.

[fantom_winter]

I have a few tests. Test 1. Can they watch Dogma for the first time and listen to the dialog instead of complaining about how little action there is.

Test 2: Do they like the #$@& Paper Clip.

They're intelligence tests. Enjoying Dogma and detesting Clippy are prerequisites for intimate relations.

I take it you don't date much...

How do you make Clippy more annoying?

[sparcv9]

Simple. You give him the voice of Gilbert Gottfried. Microsoft actually has 2 Flash movies on the OfficeClippy.com website, featuring Clippy with the World's most annoying voice ever. Who the Hell thought this was a good idea?

Didn't come up often enough?

[dasmegabyte]

What did they want?

"It looks like you're trying to push the enter key!
To enable AutoEnter at the end of paragraphs, please click through this ten minute wizard."

OH THANK GOD!!!

[Peridriga]

I can finally let just MS Word fuck up my documents instead of relying on that little paper clip to fuck it up for me...

--- My Karma is bigger than your...
------ This sentence no verb

Suicide Note

[dev!null!4d]

User typing: "Dear Loved ones, I just can't take it anymore..."
Paper Clip Pops Up!: It looks like you are about to take your life, would you like to use?
(Pills) (Rope) (Knife) (Gun)