Why was the Office assistant 'Clippy' that appeared in the 90's born and why did it disappear
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' Office Assistant ' is a support character installed in Microsoft Office and has been watching over every move of the user. In Japan, the dolphin ' Kyle ' is famous, but in the English-speaking world, the character ' Clippy ', which imitates a paper clip, supported users. Editor Benjamin Cassidy explained how this clipper was born and how it disappeared.
The Twisted Life of Clippy | Seattle Met
https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2022/08/origin-story-of-clippy-the-microsoft-office-assistant
The clipper that appears when using Microsoft Word etc. calls when the user tries to write letters, ``It seems that you are writing letters,'' and frequently jumps around the margins and asks, ``Are you looking for something?'' Do you need help?' It is a character that continues to suggest. According to Mr. Benjamin, many users felt ``disgusting'', ``unpleasant'', and ``too much'' in the polite yet strongly prejudiced proposal.
The Clipper, which debuted in Office 97 , quickly became popular with users, and in just four years, Microsoft downgraded the ' infamous ' Office Assistant to be turned off by default, and finally removed it from the product in 2007. I have erased it. Clipper, who was criticized even within the company, had a disgraceful life, including being included in Time magazine's '50 Worst Inventions of All Time.'
However, it is said that the emergence of Office Assistants such as Clipper had various backgrounds such as the too simple interface at the time and the improvement of PCs, which are 'difficult' devices for ordinary people.
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Karen Fries, who joined Microsoft in 1987, was developing a PC that was not popular at all at the time to make it easier for ordinary people to use. Mr. Fries et al. Created a 'wizard' that allows tasks such as software installation to proceed simply by clicking 'Next', 'Finish', and 'Cancel' in the dialog box. However, it seems that it has not changed that it is difficult for most people to use.
Therefore, the team of Mr. Fries et al. devised a method of `` guiding the usage to a comic-style owl ''. With the help of Mr. Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves of Stanford University, Mr. Fries and others will test with various characters other than owls and start building a natural and friendly UI.
The result was a GUI ' Microsoft Bob ' that looked like a real room. Microsoft Bob was finished in a visually easy-to-understand manner, such as clicking the door to launch a wizard to enter login information, and clicking the pen to launch the word processor. The character that guides this world was the dog 'Rover'.
Microsoft Bob, who was expected to be the best gateway to e-mail, word processing, and many other software, was not well received by people. Characters who only give very basic advice and GUIs that feel annoying every time they are used gradually become objects of avoidance as people get used to computers. Especially when the Internet began to spread, people began to get the hang of how to use PCs, and it seems that they no longer want to be taught by someone, Mr. Fries said, ``I never thought that beginners would grow so quickly. ”I look back on that time. And Microsoft Bob put the curtain down on development in just one year.
Although Microsoft Bob failed, the idea of 'advising the character' will survive.
Mr. Kevan Ateberry, who was hired by Microsoft at that time to design characters, was entrusted with the task of designing characters for Office 97, the next generation software. Mr. Ateberry
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Clippers with eyebrows like comedians and big eyes like Disney characters were particularly popular, and Mr. Ateberry also liked the free idea of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects. However, it seems that there was also an opinion that the too big eyes were 'always seen'. In addition, Mr. Reeves says that he thought from the beginning of development that 'the biggest drawback was to disturb the user.'
Despite such circumstances, Mr. Sam Hobson, a young project manager at Microsoft, pushed forward with the 'character' project despite the failure of Microsoft Bob, and as a result, Clipper was safely installed as an assistant in Office 97. I decided to
In addition to the clipper, there were other types of assistants such as robots and cats, but many people faced the clipper because the default setting was the clipper. Initially, some critics acknowledged the usefulness of the assistant, but it seems that the user's dissatisfaction with the assistant, who only gives basic advice, gradually increased. So Clipper has disappeared in 10 years since its appearance, and now it has become a kind of legendary existence as one of the nostalgic contents for Internet users.
Clipper was criticized a lot, but there were a certain number of fans, and there were times when fan art and manga were sent to Mr. Ateberry. It seems that Mr. Ateberry was a Mac user and never got irritated by the clipper, but he seems to have felt the user's frustration. Mr. Atebery who did not write 'Clipper designer' on his resume for a while after leaving Microsoft, but now he says that he is so attached that he appeals himself.
Although there are many skeptical voices about Office assistants such as Clipper, there are also opinions that they are pioneers of voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa. Regarding the Clipper, which created many memes, a group of researchers such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, ``The lack of the 'naturalness' that Mr. Nas and others aimed for is the reason why the Clipper has become a lovable character. 'I'm guessing. Editor Cassidy concludes, ``Maybe the more inorganic Clipper looked more human than today's user-friendly assistant.''
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