Clippy just won’t die — thanks, Windows 11

Clippy just won't die — thanks, Windows 11

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Update: Clippy is back in the latest Windows 11 update .

It's been a long time since we've seen Microsoft'south infamous Clippy character in anything other than memes, but over the next few months, he'll return to Microsoft 365 products every bit function of a big update aimed at making more than i,800 emoji await cuter and more three dimensional.

Those emoji wait pretty skilful, as well — you can check some of them out in the video (embedded below) Microsoft put out this calendar week in a Medium postal service detailing the large emoji update. The goal is to bring Microsoft 365 products like Function and Teams more into line with the company'southward Fluent Design Organization, a pattern vocabulary the company began publicly rolling out a few years ago to succeed its Metro design language.

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Y'all can see Fluent most clearly in the new softer, rounder wait of Windows xi, which — according to a Medium post published past 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 lot accept stiff feelings most Clippy, a character that was often criticized in the '90s and early 2000s for beingness an ever-present, often annoying pop-up in Microsoft Office. Originally branded Clippit, the character was the well-nigh prominent (and for many users, irritating) face up of the Microsoft Role Assistant, which would popular up while customers were using Office when information technology detected an opportunity to offer help or tips.

As you might expect, most people chop-chop grew to hate the character, so much so that Microsoft ran a natural language-in-cheek publicity campaign in 2002 promoting the and so-newest version of Microsoft Part, Part XP, by touting the fact that Clippy was being removed. The company even published some anti-Clippy ads and at least one browser-based game which let players pelt Clippy with office supplies.

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

Of course, replacing the paperclip emoji in Microsoft 365 products with a cuter, more 3D Clippy was all function of Microsoft's marketing plan. In a recent chat with The Verge, Microsoft art director and "Emoji-ologist" Claire Anderson explained that "I grew upwards using Clippy, and it just seemed like a fun petty Easter egg...nosotros just all imagined that delight when you lot put the paperclip [emoji] in a Microsoft production and so suddenly, you lot get this dose of nostalgia."

Intriguingly, The Verge points out that Clippy actually briefly resurfaced in 2019 every bit role of an official Microsoft Teams sticker pack update —merely he was removed roughly a twenty-four hours later, a decision that (according to a Microsoft source trusted past The Verge) was made by Microsoft "brand police" who were unhappy to meet Clippy back at work.

At present information technology seems Clippy's officially back in action, replacing the extant paperclip emoji across Microsoft 365 products in the coming months as the company continues to try and brand them more appealing and fun to use.

While information technology may seem frivolous, this button by Microsoft to make Windows, Function, 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 than a decade of experience roofing both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. He currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.