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Microsoft Revived and Killed Clippy in a Single Day (engadget.com)

The dream of the '90s was alive in Microsoft Teams this week when Microsoft's old office assistant, Clippy, showed up. From a report: If you used Microsoft Office between 1997 and 2001, you likely remember Clippy as the animated paperclip that popped up and offered tips for using the software. Microsoft did away with Clippy in 2001, so people were surprised to see Clippy stickers appear in Microsoft Teams this week. And they were even more surprised when, just a day later, Microsoft offed the little guy again. On Tuesday, Clippy appeared as an animated pack of stickers for Microsoft Teams. The stickers were released on the Office Developer GitHub page, but by the next day, they had vanished. Clippy was around just long enough to rally old fans, and there's now a user petition to bring Clippy back.

33 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. I've come to truly hate this world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "there's now a user petition to bring Clippy back."

    This kind of stuff. Every single bit of "news" these days...

    1. Re:I've come to truly hate this world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The vapid, nostalgia-driven reactions of the masses are to applaud things just because they remember them and not for what they represent.

      Clippy was always fucking horrible.

    2. Re:I've come to truly hate this world... by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Look, if there was a costume party in Hollywood and Nathan Fillion showed up dressed as Captain Malcolm Reynolds, you tell me YOU wouldn't be signing the petition for a Firefly reboot the next day.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    3. Re:I've come to truly hate this world... by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      How is that in any way comparable?!

      This is more like "Someone does a recreation of your school, and some actors recreate that day where you were pantsed, and given a swirlie, making you late for detention. You tell me YOU wouldn't be singing a petition to have to go through that shit again once a day."

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:I've come to truly hate this world... by omnichad · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure, but I think Firefly is a little higher on the list of canceled things than Clippy.

  2. I remember ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The absolute best "add-on" for Microsoft Orifice spun up a sledgehammer to close "Clippy". Each time clippy got hit by the hammer he got a little more bent out of shape until eventually he was "afraid" to pop up anymore ...

    All most as good as xroaches ...

    1. Re: I remember ... by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 1

      Settings? You could just right click on the sucker and click "Hide assistant"

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    2. Re: I remember ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is absolutely not true

    3. Re: I remember ... by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Paper clip.

      Bent out of shape.

      I see what you did there.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  3. We remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
  4. Dammit, Bring him back RIGHT NOW! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    ”Microsoft Revived and Killed Clippy in a Single Day”

    Don’t be selfish - there are a lot of us who’d LOVE to share in the pleasure of killing the bastard!

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  5. In other way more important news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Mueller's report is in. No collusion. No more indictments.

    Slashdot would have posted the story already but the Liberals who submit the stories are too busy crying into their craft soda.

  6. Clip, clip, hooray! by rmdingler · · Score: 2

    According to a report from The Verge, Clippy disappeared from both locations just a day after being introduced at the behest of what one source called the 'brand police.'

    Another take on it.

    Best Clippy quote: "Perhaps it is the file which exists and you do not."

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Clip, clip, hooray! by azcoyote · · Score: 1
      --
      Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.
  7. I know where it went by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    It looks like you're trying to avoid plummeting into the ground.

    Would you like me to:
        Shove the nose down
        Shove the nose even further down
        Say it was pilot error

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  8. Clippy is Cortana by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Clippy doesnt need to be revived its just had a gender crisis and renamed to Cortana, same logic is there though, a douchebag decision tree based on Eliza concepts of NLP but presented in a condescending way while it rifles through your companies secrets to see if a 2bit middleman they designate can sell you Chinese trinkets with a "but its designed in USA" sticker plastered onto it.

  9. So... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Where's the petition to not bring Clippy back? Or better yet, the petition to delete any and all code related to Clippy? I'll sign one or both of those.

  10. Der Revolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Always coming back in your face. Clippy. Socialism. Everything that sucks.

  11. whaaaat? how cool is this???? by Jahoda · · Score: 2

    Whaaaaaaat?? microsoft teams?? I hadn't heard of this hip Microsoft product offering before! And what a beloved 90s touchstone, beloved corporate mascot, clippy. I for one am going to rush to sign this petition to let Microsoft know how much they better bring back these emojis to their corporate groupware!

  12. the other options by dkman · · Score: 1

    Clippy was annoying, but one of the other options was a claymation Einstein. That one was OK. There was also something else, but I don't remember what it was.

    --
    I refuse to sign
    1. Re:the other options by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Merlin the wizard.

      Then there was Bonzi buddy, who used the same engine to install malware and spy on your browsing history while acting like an idiot on your taskbar,

    2. Re:the other options by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      Clippy was annoying, but one of the other options was a claymation Einstein. That one was OK. There was also something else, but I don't remember what it was.

      Microsoft Bob

      --
      We'll make great pets
  13. Why all the hate? by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    Why all the hate? I quite liked Clippy, it was adding a humanizing touch to the document editing. And I remember it being useful when I was starting to use MS Office.

    1. Re:Why all the hate? by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      I see you used the word "Attached"-- Did you mean to add an attachment? (On a letter offering condolences on their accidental amputation, and how relieved you are that they could get it re-attached.)

      I see you are writing a letter, would you like help? (never mind that you have been writing letters for years, and dont need any help from an over-exuberant paperclip.)

      I see you just bolded some text-- would you like

      NO CLIPPY, I WOULD NOT. GO AWAY.

      that's where the hate comes from.

    2. Re:Why all the hate? by Livius · · Score: 1

      Clippy was Microsoft's arrogance and condescension semi-personified. I suppose infantalization is humanizing in a sense, but certainly not in a good way.

  14. Where's the petition... by zifn4b · · Score: 1

    ...to not bring Clippy back? Eager signer here.

    --
    We'll make great pets
    1. Re: Where's the petition... by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      Yeah, Google is like the car salesman who shows you a sedan right after you told him you're shopping for your next pickup truck.

      But but but, what about the Cult of Steve Jobs? Reality distortion fields really do work! *smirk*

      --
      We'll make great pets
  15. Kill him with a damn blowtorch. by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

    Melt him into a slug of metal and use that to make something useful.

  16. Websites and apps today have ther own 'clippy' by oogoliegoogolie · · Score: 1

    As annoying as clippy is nostalgically remembered, the level of annoyance of 90's clippy is nothing compared to the forced-to-watch helpful crap that the majority of websites and apps force on us today.
    -Overlays on half the websites that tell you to "Enter your email address to receive updates and special coupons "
    -Websites asking "Do you accept the use of cookies?"
    -Terribly designed mobile webites that contain a fraction of the functionality of the desktop website version
    -Terribly designed mobile apps that contain just a fraction of the functionality of the desktop website version
    -Websites that refuse to load the desktop version on your mobile device even when you specifically request it.
    -Links to websites that when clicked ask "View in App because because it's a better experience?"
    -Applications that pop up a reminder 15 times a day to let you know that there is a new update.

    I would glady accept clippy popping up every couple of hours asking "Hey, it looks like you are writing a letter?", or 90's web frames, or even the 90's tag if it meant getting rid of the dozens of contemporary 2019 "Clippy's" I run into every day.

  17. Killing Clippy twice by Livius · · Score: 1

    I'm so conflicted. Bringing Clippy back was wrong in so many ways, but if it was just to kill it again... almost but not quite justifies it.

  18. Old Fans? by Chelloveck · · Score: 1

    Clippy was around just long enough to rally old fans,

    There are no "old fans" of Clippy. The only people who might be "fans" barely remember him from back when they were still in diapers, seeing him on mommy & daddy's computers. No one old enough to have actually used MS Office in those years is a "fan" of the little bastard, just neo-hipsters looking at it as retro kitsch.

    --
    Chelloveck
    I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
  19. Microsoft by dddux · · Score: 1

    Microsoft should change its name to Megahard, but that would sound too much like a porn name. Oh wait...

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
  20. Dog Office Assistant by Only+Time+Will+Tell · · Score: 1

    Back in college, I used to purposefully load the dog Office Assistant when I was writing late-night papers on my computer. Seeing that cartoon dog was encouraging when you're all alone at 4 am trying to finish a paper!