Re:Ask HN: Why doesn't Microsoft bring Clippy back instead o...
by PaulHoule on Sunday January 26, 2025 @02:27PM
(#42833129)
I was thinking about that the other day.
I had a run in with Clippy last year when I had to install Office '98 to work with some old files. It installed Clippy and he worked really well.
My take on Clippy was that it was backed by a highly effective full-text search of the help, which was remarkable, because people didn't expect full-text search of help to be effective at all in the 1990s. (e.g. Google demolished people's expectations of full-text search)
The goal of Clippy the character was to get people to try the search, but I think a lot of people were turned off by the character and didn't get to realize how good the search was.
Cortana also had a lot of baggage because of trying to be a character, maybe Microsoft is right to give it a bland icon that blends into the background because at least people won't be offended by the icon.
I had a run in with Clippy last year when I had to install Office '98 to work with some old files. It installed Clippy and he worked really well.
My take on Clippy was that it was backed by a highly effective full-text search of the help, which was remarkable, because people didn't expect full-text search of help to be effective at all in the 1990s. (e.g. Google demolished people's expectations of full-text search)
The goal of Clippy the character was to get people to try the search, but I think a lot of people were turned off by the character and didn't get to realize how good the search was.
Cortana also had a lot of baggage because of trying to be a character, maybe Microsoft is right to give it a bland icon that blends into the background because at least people won't be offended by the icon.