Microsoft Threatens To Bring Clippy Back From The Dead

People who had a Microsoft home computer in the '90s and early '00s will remember Clippy.

The paperclip assistant would seemingly pop up at the most inopportune moment while you were using Word or Powerpoint.

While they would try to give you advice, it was either a little misguided or just wasn't necessary.

Clippy was eventually dumped from the virtual world and it has been a calmer, quieter place ever since.

However, Microsoft has threatened to bring the assistant back after they issued a message on social media.

The tech company wrote on Twitter: "If this gets 20k likes, we'll replace the paperclip emoji in Microsoft 365 with Clippy."

The post copped more than 70,000 likes in four hours, showing people are really keen to see Clippy come back from the dead.

It sparked loads of users to reminisce about using the assistant and are now begging for the opportunity to use it in emoji form.

One person wrote: "If we don't achieve this, I am going to use notepad for the rest of my life."

Another added: "Bring the lil dude back in Windows 11 for real! Clippy should replace Cortana."

A third went deeper: "I feel like there is a great backstory for Clippy that we are all not privy. There is a mystery in his eyes. Like his full government name is Clarance J. Clippington, III, known as Clippy to all that love him."

Clippy wasn't the only virtual assistant that you could choose on your computer.

You were given the option to select a wizard named Merlin, an office cat, a red dot, a robot, 'Mother Nature', someone called Courtney and others.

Microsoft

Obviously, everyone loved Clippy more than the others and it became a part of the digital canon.

Microsoft revived the virtual assistant this month for people who use their Teams software.

But sadly, Clippy revival wasn't designed to offer suggestions on how to get off mute or why someone hasn't been allowed into the chat.

Instead of it actually being able to help you in your desperate time of need, it was only available as a background image.

Microsoft said in a blog post about the move: "After well over a year of remote and hybrid work we could all use some excitement on video calls, we asked our designers to give a few memorable Microsoft moments their debut as Microsoft Teams backgrounds."

But it looks like you'll be able to use Clippy till your heart's content if Microsoft brings it back as an emoji.

Topics: News, Microsoft, Technology

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie