find someone I looked at you like Clippy When typing in Word.

Find someone with big black eyes who stare unblinkingly, as if their gaze is fixed under their two-dimensional two-dimensional eyebrows; always lurking in the lower corner of the computer screen, ready to attack again and again with the endless:

“Do you want me to help you today?”

anyone

– Looks like you’re writing a letter. Need help?

If you’ve tinkered with Microsoft Office in the late ’90s and used Word to write—letters or not, whatever Clippy thinks—I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and these questions are familiar to you. Also, I would dare to say that in some cases they even succeeded. control your nerves.

desk mate

Clippy was our good-luck benchmate on the first day of school, cocky, naive, a little overweight. Seeking pathological care. Always be vigilant. Always on the alert. A false click is expected. At any moment he is ready to jump in to start a proposal and plunge into the wounded pride of the writer stuck in front of the blank paper.

– I can help?

He offered help, yes and politely; but often in the worst way – without being asked – and so persistently that you look for a way to disable the internet. It’s cute in perspective. And in a way, in 1998, 1999, and even the early 2000s, when many Office users were thought to be right, it made sense all over the world for them to ask us all this. not yet familiar with your vehicles.

It was about being an educator.

To simplify.

Presenting newcomers with an instruction manual that looks like nothing more than a dry, dry, depressing and boring manual.

To find a simple way to clear doubts and teach how to handle this Microsoft software; an assistant to interact with, a nice looking chabot, a little funny and even capable of making monkeys and somersaults if we want him to click.

And that’s exactly what Microsoft’s aim.

Problem: it wasn’t very good at trying.

Back in the 1990s, Redmond people had a clear idea: They wanted their software to be more manageable. For those who are very good with computers, of course; but also for those who stand in front of a computer and use a mouse and keyboard for the first time. They thought that one of the biggest keys to achieve this was to bid them. good interface.

They weren’t aiming wildly. In the early 1990s, two Stanford University researchers, Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves, studied in detail how human-computer interactions develop, and their conclusion was clear: we prefer to treat our computers as if they were “agents,” social actors. ; not in the way of simple tools.

“People are fine social relations: talk to each other and interpret signals such as facial expressions. They also pointed out that when dealing with a natural environment, such as the movement of objects and people in rooms, a guide may not be needed, so if an interface can interact with the user to take advantage of these human capabilities.

In short, it may be easier to learn to use the software if these “natural abilities” of users are exploited and provided with an attractive and instructive interface.

These ideas permeated the Redmond offices and eventually took shape in a project sponsored by Karen Fries and Melinda French – yes, Bill Gates’ next wife and later ex-wife – and Microsoft Bob, who had the backing of management. Maybe his approach was good. The result, of course, no. Bob was released in 1995 And it was a huge fiasco.

In its efforts to facilitate users’ work, it transformed the desktop into a kind of first-class room with an air almost like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, a decision that caused it to be rejected by users and critics. The Redmond staff went too far to simplify the user experience: they included an envelope for the mail, a paper and a pen for the word processor… And a yellow dog, Rober, as an assistant.

lots TIME Spam, along with other great creations of humanity like paid toilets or—see the data—“smile checks” gave Bob a dubious honor on the list of the 50 worst inventions. There was Bob in ’96 packed and through the back door.

In most companies, such a setback serves to turn a clean slate. Not at Microsoft. Or not exactly, at least. Maybe Bob missed the shot, but… was there any way to save his philosophy? For Bob, the company had designed around 250 animated characters like dogs, dinosaurs, and rabbits, so why not pursue that idea?

No sooner said than done. In office 97 Office Assistant has been added with a default avatar: our hero, the ever-eager Clippy, designed by illustrator Kevan Atteberry. Perhaps the reaction he received from users was not as harsh as Bob’s; but it was far from desirable. People complained. Clippy was annoying. It made it uncomfortable.

Why? In 2003 another researcher, Luke Swartz, published a study that had some interesting implications. The text is clear from its title: “Why People Hate Clip: Social Responses to Tags, Appearance, Behavior, and UI Agents?”

His diagnosis – you wouldn’t be surprised if you rub your shoulders with the good old Clippy – the virtual wire assistant was: poorly focused and did not meet expectations previously announced by Nass and Reeves. To put it bluntly: The Office clip broke the rules anyone would expect from a good partner. Asking for nothing every few minutes, interrupting, being tracked down and offering help when the user no longer needed it, was a common thing as Office gained popularity and people got used to its use.

In a way, and as Nass points out to Microsoft, he was “condescending.”

The people had spoken.

And Clippy was convicted.

When Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001, the company decided to retire Clippy early. Not figuratively, no; Bill Gates himself during a public event in May 2001 represented the retreat An image of the virtual assistant in a staging featuring an actor dressed in a paper clip-shaped foam suit: a bloated, stuffed, and drooping Clippy.

With Windows XP, Clippy is no longer included in the default configuration. Over the next few years, she and the other participants—less popular, less angry—had lost more and more weight. The blow came six years later, on his tenth birthday: in 2007 Clippy made this early retirement effective and eventually disappeared altogether.

Completely?

No.

Sticking with its habits, Clippy reappeared for a fleeting cameo in 2014, just like when no one walked out of the corner of our screens without looking for it. Surprisingly, so much in his style. They big come back It didn’t come until 2021, though, with a quite different approach from 1997: In May, Microsoft released a series of wallpapers starring the former assistant, and in November it released a pack of clip-on stickers for Microsoft Teams.

But for those who are nostalgic and loyal to Clippy, the big surprise came on July 14 last year when the Redmond company grew. A challenge on Twitter next to a large portrait of his former assistant: “If this gets 20,000 likes, we’ll replace the clip emoji in Microsoft 365 with Clippy.” Of course he understood. actually today 170,300 likes.

And if Clippy has shown anything throughout its history, it’s that half measures are no friend: you either love it or hate it. And it has at least 170,000+ fans.