Clippy just won’t die — thanks, Windows 11

Clippy simply won't dice — thanks, Windows 11

(Epitome credit: Microsoft)

Update: Clippy is back in the latest Windows xi update .

Information technology'south been a long time since nosotros've seen Microsoft's infamous Clippy graphic symbol in anything other than memes, only over the next few months, he'll return to Microsoft 365 products equally part of a big update aimed at making more than 1,800 emoji expect cuter and more than three dimensional.

Those emoji look pretty good, too — you tin check some of them out in the video (embedded beneath) Microsoft put out this calendar week in a Medium post detailing the large emoji update. The goal is to bring Microsoft 365 products like Office and Teams more into line with the company's Fluent Design Organization, a blueprint vocabulary the visitor began publicly rolling out a few years ago to succeed its Metro pattern language.

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Yous can see Fluent well-nigh clearly in the new softer, rounder look of Windows 11, which — according to a Medium post published by the Microsoft Pattern team explaining the dramatic redesign — is meant to look "softer, friendlier, and less intimidating" through Fluent Design.

This is potentially a big deal if you have stiff feelings about Clippy, a grapheme that was often criticized in the '90s and early 2000s for being an ever-nowadays, frequently abrasive pop-up in Microsoft Office. Originally branded Clippit, the character was the most prominent (and for many users, irritating) face up of the Microsoft Office Assistant, which would pop upwardly while customers were using Office when information technology detected an opportunity to offer assist or tips.

As you might expect, nearly people quickly grew to hate the character, and so much so that Microsoft ran a tongue-in-cheek publicity entrada in 2002 promoting the then-newest version of Microsoft Office, Office XP, by touting the fact that Clippy was being removed. The company even published some anti-Clippy ads and at least ane browser-based game which let players pelt Clippy with office supplies.

Fast forrad to now, and information technology appears Clippy's resurfaced in the public consciousness as a much-maligned, perpetually meme'd slice of '90s nostalgia that many people remember fondly — so fondly, in fact, that when Microsoft published a picture of the new softer, more 3D Clippy emoji to Twitter this week and threatened to put it in Microsoft 365 if the post broke xx,000 likes, information technology hit more than 140,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in less than 24 hours.

Of class, replacing the paperclip emoji in Microsoft 365 products with a cuter, more than 3D Clippy was all part of Microsoft's marketing plan. In a recent conversation with The Verge, Microsoft art manager and "Emoji-ologist" Claire Anderson explained that "I grew upward using Clippy, and information technology simply seemed like a fun little Easter egg...nosotros just all imagined that delight when you put the paperclip [emoji] in a Microsoft product and and so all of a sudden, you become this dose of nostalgia."

Intriguingly, The Verge points out that Clippy actually briefly resurfaced in 2019 as part of an official Microsoft Teams sticker pack update —only he was removed roughly a mean solar day later on, a determination that (co-ordinate to a Microsoft source trusted by The Verge) was fabricated by Microsoft "brand constabulary" who were unhappy to see Clippy dorsum at work.

At present it seems Clippy'southward officially back in activeness, replacing the extant paperclip emoji across Microsoft 365 products in the coming months as the company continues to endeavor and make them more than appealing and fun to apply.

While it may seem frivolous, this push button by Microsoft to make Windows, Office, and other products softer, rounder, and cuter could pay big dividends in the years ahead, now that so many of us are integrating our work PCs into our homes and adjusting to semi-permanent remote working arrangements.

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Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of feel roofing both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Chapeau, and PC World magazine. He currently serves every bit a senior editor at Tom'due south Guide roofing all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.