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.
  

[via Engadget]

Tags: clippy, microsoft office, MicrosoftOffice, office assistant, OfficeAssistant