Microsoft brutally killed Clippy a day after resurrecting him



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If you used Microsoft Word in the late 90s, you'll probably remember Clippy, the anthropomorphic trombone that appeared from time to time to give advice on the best use of Microsoft Office. Until Microsoft retrograde Clippy with the introduction of Office XP in 2001, to finally kill him in 2007. What we like or hate him, Clippy is actually dead since – until earlier this week, when Microsoft briefly resurrected it for about a day. before killing him again.

On Tuesday, Clippy figured in a pack of animated stickers in Microsoft teams. The stickers were then distributed via GitHub so that everyone could download the Clippy stickers and relive that sweet nostalgia of Office 97. Except that, Wednesday, the stickers were gone. If you take a look at the official Office GitHub page, Clippy can not be found.

Clippy's brief awakening apparently did not meet Microsoft's internal police – a spokesman for the company told The Verge.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to Gizmodo's request to explain why Clippy had been murdered so brutally, but a source close to the situation informed The Verge that the stickers were angering Microsoft's "trademark police" . A spokesman for the group told The Verge:

Clippy has been trying to get back to work since 2001, and his brief appearance on GitHub was another attempt. Although we appreciate the effort, we do not intend to bring Clippy to the teams.

RedBubble has stickers to give your Mac a bit of Microsoft flavor.
Screen Capture: RedBubble

Dang, it's cold. It is therefore logical that Microsoft can still suffer from all the hatred that Clippy has had over the years. Many thoughts have been written about why he is one of the most hated desk assistants of all time. But a small batch of cute stickers did not hurt anyone. So it's a bit odd that Microsoft seems so eager to keep Clippy out of sight. Especially since the nostalgia machine has given Clippy a little resurgence in recent years. It might have been thought that the time had come for Clippy's redemption.

Really. Clippy has serious fans. In 2017, an extension to add Clippy to each visited site has been added to the Chrome Web Store. Since then, it has been downloaded by 1,087 users. There are inexplicable Clippy stickers on sale on Redbubble and even more tackle on Etsy. If you are a brave and fearless soul, you can also search for "Clippy fanart" on Google or look for the #clippy tag on DeviantArt. (There's a fanart of a pregnant Clippy who has even bothered her original designer.) Oh, and there's also the less scary petition to bring back the package of Clippy sticker messages, which has 493 votes to date.

Yet who would have thought that in 2019, Clippy, in his perpetual search for meaningful employment and a reason to exist, would become a new icon of the millennial struggle?

[The Verge]

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