Line #7 UsefulNotes/MicrosoftOfficeAssistant


1	[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clippy.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:218:Would you like help with punching that?]]
3	[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/windows_11_clippy_paperclip_emoji.png]]
4	[[caption-width-right:218:Would you like help with using emojis to express your frustration?]]
5
6	->''"Go away, you paperclip! No one likes you!"''
7	-->-- '''Stewie Griffin''' encountering Clippy while trying to hack a power grid, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie Lois Kills Stewie]]"
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9	{{The\|Scrappy}} [[BaseBreakingCharacter (sort of]] [[VindicatedByHistory ex-)]][[TheScrappy Scrappy]] of Creator/{{Microsoft}}'s business software history. A classic case of UnwantedAssistance.
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11	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 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.]]
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13	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 (as mentioned previously) 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]].
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15	Clippy has appeared as an annoying or tragicomic figure in animations and comics, and will still be recognized by computer users whose memories go back to the turn of the millennium; the Assistant's StockPhrases have featured in {{Meme\|ticMutation}}s created since the Assistant's demise. The ExpositionFairy is a similar feature in computer games.
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17	----
18	!!Some appearances of the Paperclip in popular culture:
19	* There's a computer joke in which his sole dialogue is "It looks like you're writing a letter. Would you like me to a) bollocks it up for you b) just off and leave you alone?"
20	* See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifleu0VVAc0 this video]] (warning: highly NSFW dialogue), or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooP49OR8q0U this one]].
21	* Then there's the lolcat where he offers three choices for making WebOriginal/LOLCats, and "Invisible Office Assistant" is chosen.
22	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': While exploring the eponymous location in "The Void", at one point Gumball and Darwin are startled by a CaptainErsatz of Clippit asking if they need assistance and quickly drive him away. It's worth pointing out that the eponymous void, in the show's universe, is a place where things the universe deems a mistake go.
23	* Clippy makes an appearance in ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation III'', where he actually manages to [[AdaptationalBadass put up a decent fight]].
24	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Clippy shows up in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie a certain season 6 story]].
25	* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' once had Mercutio confused that the absence of Clippy was supposed to be a software ''fault'', rather than, say, a reward from [[MachineWorship the Omnissiah]].
26	* Microsoft were indeed in on the joke:
27	** There were [[Advertising/MicrosoftOfficeXP three Flash-animated shorts promoting Office XP]], with Clippy as the lead character. He is written as obnoxious and snarky (and he's voiced by Creator/GilbertGottfried, for Christ's sake), but despite his determination to regain his place in Microsoft Office, he has to deal with the fact that he might be out of a job at long last.
28	** Microsoft Word Online's 2014 AprilFoolsDay joke was for Clippit to appear, saying things like "[[AlasPoorScrappy Remember when we used to write letters together?]]"
29	** Microsoft used Clippy as the main character in the tutorial game ''Ribbon Hero 2'', when Microsoft fired him for being too annoying and his mother kicked him out of the house to get a job. At the end, he gets abducted by aliens and taken to a race of paperclip people who welcome him as a chosen hero to 'teach them how to write letters'.
30	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP98Pb50T-U This]] Creator/DemetriMartin routine.
31	* ''Radio/WaitWaitDontTellMe'' had [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128417631 a bit]] about him being taken out into the woods and getting whacked.
32	* ''VideoGame/Progressbar95'' has Clippy make appearances often and you have to remove him so he doesn't bother you. Most of the time, he blocks the movement of your progress bar, though sometimes he carries a stick of dynamite as a "present" and if the bar touches him, you lose a life.
33	* The ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' supplement ''Toxic Memes'' implies that Clippy has returned, at least in spirit, in its future world of 2100:
34	-->''It looks like you're starting a religion. Would you like help with that?''
35	* Likewise, ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2020-02-28 shows]] that the idea has survived or returned a thousand years hence:
36	-->'''Help System VR Tentacle:''' It looks like you're trying to prevent the destruction of all baryonic life. Would you like...\
37	'''Ennesby:''' Nope. I've got this.
38	* Clippy was a regular target of parody on ''Radio/TheNowShow'' in the nineties. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7-D2pPP-u0 original version]] of Music/MitchBenn's "IKEA", written to commemorate a claim that Ingvar Kamprad was the richest man in the world (based on an assumption that he literally owned IKEA, which he didn't) had the lines:
39	-->Now he has over sixty billion dollars in his grip,\
40	He makes Bill Gates look second-rate, yah, screw him and his stupid paperclip.
41	* One of the subplots in the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E06TerminalProvocations "Terminal Provocations"]] features "Badgey", a holodeck character in the form of an anthropomorphized Starfleet delta emblem. Badgey gets [[PercussiveMaintenance a kick]] from Rutherford when he glitches and freezes, provoking him to become [[AIIsACrapshoot homicidal]] when the holodeck safeties fail.
42	* 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 a version of Office with Clippy to still be installed on Esther's laptop.
43	* ''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?"
44	* A 2003 episode of ''Series/{{CNNNN}}'' has a sketch where Clippy escapes into the real world (played by Chas Licciardello) and annoys people in public.
45	-->'''Clippy''': It looks like you're trying to relax and unwind. Would you like some help?
46	* Clippy the Office Assistant [[https://youtu.be/ILAr3C5uHYE?t=143 is referenced in a 2015 episode]] of ''Series/TheWeeklyWithCharliePickering'', with Charlie claiming that Microsoft getting rid of him has made Excel tougher ("It looks like you're trying to provide evidence to a joint Commonwealth/State terrorism review. Do you want help with that?"). Charlie went on to [[LampshadedTheObscureReference acknowledge that Clippy was a "slightly dated" reference, even in 2015]].
47	* 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 that he's DrivenToSuicide.
48	--> '''Bill Gates:''' Dear world, I realise now I have created a monster! I've no longer-\
49	'''Clippy:''' Hi there! It looks like you're writing a suicide note...\
50	'''Crowd:''' Would you like some help?
51	* For AprilFoolsDay 2015, Website/{{Tumblr}} turned the website into an Office-like productivity app called "Tumblr [=ExecutiveSuite=] 2016", which featured a talking photocopier assistant named Coppy. Like Clippy, Coppy would bother users with pointless questions, though users quickly grew attached to him. However, throughout the day, Coppy seemed to wear down and users [[AlasPoorScrappy actually started expressing concern for their new "friend"]]. [=BuzzFeed=] has a good summary of the events [[https://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/coppy-was-the-best-damn-thing-that-ever-happened-to-tumblr here]]. In 2022, Coppy was immortalized as a [[https://youtooz.com/products/coppy YouTooz figure]].
52	* 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''.
53	* And just to show that you can't keep a good (or bad) paperclip down...
54	** 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.
55	** Clippy 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]].

Context UsefulNotes / MicrosoftOfficeAssistant