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The Secret Origins of Microsoft Office's Clippy

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the melinda-has-a-lot-to-answer-for dept.

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.

1 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Re:WAT by socsoc · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Who can afford recent MS products, especially with this economy? Word 2k still works fine for me...