Technologizer

How Microsoft’s Clippy Got That Way

Think that Microsoft Office’s Clippy was a joke? Microsoft didn’t–Google Patents holds proof of the serious effort that the company poured into ever-unpopular animated “helpers” like Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and the Search Assistant. The whole idea remains baffling, but the drawings that Microsoft filed are weirdly fascinating. I’ve assembled a gallery of highlights. View Secret Origins [...]

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The Secret Origins of Clippy: Microsoft’s Bizarre Animated Character Patents

Of all the peculiar ideas that Microsoft has pursued over its almost 34 years in business, I can’t think of many that are more inexplicable than its long-standing interest in using animated characters to provide help to users of its software products–an aberration best known in the form of Clippy, the “Office Assistant” paperclip who [...]

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