History UsefulNotes / MicrosoftOfficeAssistant

-->--[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Stewie Griffin]] encountering Clippy while trying to hack a power grid, [[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie "Lois Kills Stewie"]]

--> '''Bill Gates:''' Dear world, I realise now I have created a monster! I've no longer...\\

** There were [[Advertising/MicrosoftOfficeXP three Flash-animated shorts promoting Office XP]], where Clippy laments that he might be out of a job at long last. And he's voiced by Creator/GilbertGottfried, for Christ's sake.

* There was a sketch on ''WesternAnimation/TwoDTV'' in which Bill Gates is taunted by Clippy, who starts manifesting everywhere in his life, to the point of being DrivenToSuicide.
--> '''Bill Gates:''' Dear world, I realise now I have created a monster! I've no longer...
--> '''Clippy:''' Hi there! It looks like you're writing a suicide note...
--> '''Crowd:''' Would you like some help?

** There were three Flash-animated shorts promoting Office XP, where Clippy laments that he might be out of a job at long last. And he's voiced by Creator/GilbertGottfried, for Christ's sake.

Office Assistant was a feature of Microsoft's Office suite of programs between 1997 and 2004. When the software detected certain activities on the part of the user, it would pop up an animated figure which would note, via a dialogue box, that the user appeared to be attempting some specific task (such as writing a letter), and offer to "help with that". If the user said yes, the Assistant would walk the user through a process to accomplish that task. A number of different figures were available, but the default was a talking paperclip named Clippit -- widely referred to as "Clippy" -- and as [[DefaultSettingSyndrome most people stick with defaults]], and anyway changing it usually required the installation CD or a venture into the depths of Microsoft's website, Clippy the Paperclip became largely synonymous with Office Assistant. Website/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant a lot more detail.]]

Office Assistant was quite an ingenious programming exercise (it's been [[http://nymag.com/vindicated/2016/10/clippy-didnt-just-annoy-you-he-changed-the-world.html described as a precursor of modern voice-controlled software assistants]]), and some of the animations were kind of cute, but overall, the whole thing was a bit of a disaster. It just wasn't smart or helpful enough, especially after its first appearance for any given task, and the animations could soon become annoying; having Clippy pop up was just a distracting intrusion into people's serious work. The little sound effects attached to its appearances probably didn't help. You ''could'' turn it off, of course, but, well, most people didn't know how -- so they blamed Microsoft instead. Magazine/TimeMagazine listed Clippit as one of the fifty worst inventions of all time. Even Microsoft soon started [[CreatorBacklash mocking their own creation]], with some staff [[KnewItAllAlong claiming to have been against it from the start]].

Office Assistant was quite an ingenious programming exercise (it's been [[http://nymag.com/vindicated/2016/10/clippy-didnt-just-annoy-you-he-changed-the-world.html described as a precursor of modern voice-controlled software assistants]]), and some of the animations were kind of cute, but overall, the whole thing was a bit of a disaster. It just wasn't smart or helpful enough, especially after its first appearance for any given task, and the animations could soon become annoying; having Clippy pop up was just a distracting intrusion into people's serious work. The little sound effects attached to its appearances probably didn't help. You ''could'' turn it off, of course, but, well, most people stick with defaults -- so they blamed Microsoft instead. Magazine/TimeMagazine listed Clippit as one of the fifty worst inventions of all time. Even Microsoft soon started [[CreatorBacklash mocking their own creation]], with some staff [[KnewItAllAlong claiming to have been against it from the start]].

Office Assistant was quite an ingenious programming exercise (it's been [[http://nymag.com/vindicated/2016/10/clippy-didnt-just-annoy-you-he-changed-the-world.html described as a precursor of modern voice-controlled software assistants]]), and some of the animations were kind of cute, but overall, the whole thing was a bit of a disaster. It just wasn't smart or helpful enough, especially after its first appearance for any given task, and the animations could soon become annoying; having Clippy pop up was just a distracting intrusion into people's serious work. The little sound effects attached to its appearances probably didn't help. You ''could'' turn it off, of course, but, well, most people stick with defaults -- so they blamed Microsoft instead. Magazine/TimeMagazine listed Clippit as one of the fifty worst inventions of all time. Even Microsoft soon started mocking their own creation, with some staff [[KnewItAllAlong claiming to have been against it from the start]].

* Clippy the Office Assistant [[https://youtu.be/ILAr3C5uHYE?t=143 appears in a 2015 episode]] of ''Series/TheWeeklyWithCharliePickering'' ("It looks like you're trying to provide evidence to a joint Commonwealth/State terrorism review. Do you want help with that?"), with Charlie [[LampshadedTheObscureReference acknowledging that Clippy was a "slightly dated" reference, even in 2015]].

* Clippy the Office Assistant appears in a 2015 episode of ''Series/TheWeeklyWithCharliePickering'' ("It looks like you're trying to provide evidence to a joint Commonwealth/State terrorism review. Do you want help with that?"), with Charlie [[LampshadedTheObscureReference acknowledging that Clippy was a "slightly dated" reference, even in 2015]].

* Office Assistant appears in a 2015 episode of ''Series/TheWeeklyWithCharliePickering'' ("It looks like you're trying to provide evidence to a joint Commonwealth/State terrorism review. Do you want help with that?"), with Charlie [[LampshadedTheObscureReference acknowledging how dated the reference was, even in 2015]].

* Brought up in a 2015 episode of ''Series/TheWeeklyWithCharliePickering'' ("It looks like you're trying to provide evidence to a joint Commonwealth/State terrorism review. Do you want help with that?"), with Charlie [[LampshadedTheObscureReference acknowledging how dated the reference was]].

* Clippy [[https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/4/23056969/clippy-halo-infinite-emblem-charm-unlockable appears as a gun charm]] and emblem in ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'', following [[https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/3ru5xm/so_they_have_a_clippy_emblem/ his appearance as an emblem]] in ''Halo 5''.

* And just to show that you can't keep a good (or bad) paperclip down, in 2021, Microsoft contrived to bring Clippy BackFromTheDead, in a small way; [[https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/15/22578352/microsoft-new-3d-emoji-clippy-windows-office it was announced]] that their Windows 11 operating system and Office 365 software would henceforth render the paperclip UsefulNotes/{{Emoji}} (📎) with his appearance (seen in the second image at the top of this page). Mind you, this was actually ''demanded'' (sort of) by Microsoft users; Microsoft [[Website/{{Twitter}} tweeted]] a gentler-looking redesign of Clippy, saying that if the tweet got 20,000 likes, they would bring him back as the emoji. They got the requested number of likes rather quickly for such a despised character.
** Clippit also still remains in Microsoft Office in subtle form. One of the paperclips in Office 2013 and later's "School Supplies" theme has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant#/media/File:Clippy_Hidden_in_office.png a notable excited face]].

** There was a Flash-animated short promoting Windows XP, where Clippy laments that he might be out of a job at long last. And he's voiced by Creator/GilbertGottfried, for Christ's sake.

* In the (totally unauthorized, online-published) ''Comicbook/GiantDays'' story in which Franchise/{{Batman}} comes to town, the comic's resident {{goth}}, Dark Esther, is rapidly reduced to writing deranged {{fanfic}}. [[https://badmachinery.com/comic/a-feather-quill-from-his-cloak/ Clippy shows up on her word processor, looking very worried, and tries to stop her.]] This is possibly semi-justified, given that ''Giant Days'' is nominally set a few years before the date of publication, possibly just long enough ago for Clippy to still be installed on Esther's laptop.

Office Assistant was a feature of Microsoft's Office suite of programs between 1997 and 2004. When the software detected certain activities on the part of the user, it would pop up an animated figure which would note, via a dialogue box, that the user appeared to be attempting some specific task (such as writing a letter), and offer to "help with that". If the user said yes, the Assistant would walk the user through a process to accomplish that task. A number of different figures were available, but the default was a talking paperclip named Clippit -- widely referred to as "Clippy" -- and as [[DefaultSettingSyndrome most people stick with defaults]], and anyway changing it usually required the installation CD or a venture into the depths of Microsoft's website, Clippy the Paperclip became largely synonymous with Office Assistant. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant a lot more detail.]]

[[caption-width-right:218:Would like help with using emojis to express your frustration?]]

->"Go away, you paperclip! No one likes you!"

* ''Film/PleaseHold'' is set in a dystopian near-future Los Angeles in which all matters of criminal justice are handled by AI and virtual assistants in a ForInconveniencePressOne manner. Mateo can't afford a human lawyer so he is being represented by an AI who is obviously modeled on Clippy. When Mateo hesitates about pleading guilty and taking a five-year prison sentence -- he doesn't know what he's charged with! -- the not-Clippy taps the screen and says ""Hey, have you had a chance to think about the plea deal? Do you need help?"

* Likewise, ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2020-02-27 shows]] that the idea has survived or returned a thousand years hence:

* ''Film/PleaseHold'' is set in a dystopian near-future Los Angeles in which all matters of criminal justice are handled by AI and virtual assistants in a ForInconveniencePressOne manner. Mateo can't afford a human lawyer so he is being represented by an AI who is obviously copied after Clippy. When Mateo hesitates about pleading guilty and taking a five-year prison sentence--he doesn't know what he's charged with!--the not-Clippy taps the screen and says ""Hey, have you had a chance to think about the plea deal? Do you need help?"