Microsoft’s famous office assistant ‘Clippy’ rose from the dead for a brief moment earlier this week on Tuesday, 19 March, in sticker packs for Microsoft teams, which were then released on Microsoft’s official Office developer GitHub page, reported The Verge.
However, the 90s friend did not last long, as the company’s marketing department took it away a day later and it vanished once again into the Microsoft archives.
“Clippy has been trying to get his job back since 2001, and his brief appearance on GitHub was another attempt,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the Verge. “While we appreciate the effort, we have no plans to bring Clippy to Teams.”
For those of you who don’t know the Office assistant, Clippy is an animated paperclip that popped up and helped you in using the software.
The digital mascot eventually came to be loathed by many as an annoyance and distraction for frequently popping up on screens unprompted, reported the Daily Mail.
Microsoft offered the assistance between 1997 and 2001.
After the assistant’s reappearance, fans have taken to Microsoft's Uservoice forums in an informal petition, to bring the old friend back.
Meanwhile, for those of you who cannot wait for its return, you can alternatively download a free Google Chrome browser extension to add the mascot to all of your web pages.
(With inputs from The Verge and Daily Mail.)
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