The Secret Origins of Microsoft Office's Clippy

Harry writes "Most folks think that Microsoft Office's Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and Windows XP's Search Assistant dog were perverse jokes — but a dozen years' worth of patent filings shows that Microsoft took the concept of animated software 'helpers' really, really seriously, even long after everyone else realized it was a bad idea. And the drawings those patents contain are weirdly fascinating." The article, a slide show really, spreads over 15 pages.

Comments

Re:WAT

[GFree678]

Clippy IS dead. It's been abandoned in all recent MS products, it's only Slashdot that seems to have trouble understanding this.

techno amnesia ..

[rs232]

"nobody now remembers who introduced the small waved underlines .. tutorialized tasks .. the ribbon"

WordPerfect highlights poor grammar or incorrect word usage with a wavy blue underline

Apple Guide Isn't Help

tabbed toolbars or the Component palette as it was called in Delphi

Re:WAT

[LandDolphin]

What are their complaints from XP to Vista? Hearing all of the bad press about Vista, I was not excited to "upgrade" when I purchased a new Laptop. However, having use it for a few months now, I have not come accross any real problems with it. It was a little different then was I was used to, but everything works.