# Clippit The Paper Clip **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 1999, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491 "1999-09-24T20:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/21 "1999-09-27T02:07:00Z")
Aura, Thanks for the info…I assumed (incorrectly) that if someone was posting something like: The point is, that icons are like soundwaves, you can replace one with another, leave the name the same, and therefore customize out the wazoo That they had at least tried it or that it was correct. It apparently wasn’t. Thanks for your help * * * I’m very lucky. The only time I was ever up shit creek, I just happened to have a paddle with me. –George Carlin ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/22 "1999-09-27T02:54:00Z")
Personally, I don’t find the “Clipster” all that annoying. I’ve never had a problem shutting him off if he gets annoying. Also, yes there are several other characters you can replace him with. I’ve switched to this cat character that appears to be made of pieces of scrap paper. (I forget his name.) If you want to check these out, go here: [http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/](http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/) Select one of your Office products from the menu and go to the free downloads. The ones that are listed with the type “assistant” are other characters. * * * Carpe hoc! ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/23 "1999-09-27T03:59:00Z")
A co-worker mailed this to me, so I have no idea where it came from (though it seems British). It’s appropriate anyway. ## [http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~robertk/OFFICE.gif](http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~robertk/OFFICE.gif) Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![Hungry\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hungry\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hungry_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/24 "1999-09-27T14:20:00Z")
Deleting Clippit and company ffrom the Actors folder seems to have done the job. Thanks to all! ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/25 "1999-09-27T15:27:00Z")
I recently switched my work computer from Chinese-version to English version Windows, and the only drawback was that I couldn’t use the little “Office Lady” helper that I had used on my previous computer. (She looks like a little Japanese office lady, young, and drawn as an anime-style cartoon.) I missed her, so I copied the pertinent “actor” (\*.ACT) file from my old computer to the new computer, and sure enough it worked. I can once again take pleasure in typing descriptions of various, ahem, techniques when she pops up with that starting prompt, “What would you like to do”? (So far she claims not to understand my queries–playing coy, I’ll bet.) Rocky was not much better–he only understood one of my suggestions. DHR ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/26 "1999-09-27T19:34:00Z")
I hate those damn things too. I found you can just change the file extension. * * * One complete set of morals for sale to highest bidder, new in box. ---
**Author:** ![sivancat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@sivancat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sivancat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/27 "1999-09-27T20:24:00Z")
I hate to admit it, but I find “Rocky” the dog (another MicroSoft Office helper) pretty cute. His animations make me smile. I can’t stand any of the other helpers that came with the program. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/28 "2001-07-12T10:34:24Z")
Microsoft is getting rid of Clippy in Office XP and even has a self-defacing web site about it: [http://www.microsoft.com/office/clippy/](http://www.microsoft.com/office/clippy/) They even got Gilbert Gottfried to do the voice. However, obviously, if they had never made Clippy in the first place, they wouldn’t need to make fun of him now… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/29 "2001-07-12T11:37:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*But hey, at least it’s not Bob. \*\* What, exactly, was Bob? I vaguely remember something, but my memory is about as reliable as a politician, so would somebody fill me in about Bob? Or, as the movie title went, [What About Bob?](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103241) (Death Therapy!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/30 "2001-07-12T12:40:22Z")
Uninstalling Microsoft Office will probably do the trick. (Have you considered Lotus SmartSuite? That plus DataViz Conversions Plus will let you survive in an Office-centric environment without Office programs and no one the wiser.) ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/31 "2001-07-12T13:30:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > > \*\*But hey, at least it’s not Bob. \*\* > > What, exactly, was Bob? I vaguely remember something, but my memory is about as reliable as a politician, so would somebody fill me in about Bob? > > Or, as the movie title went, [What About Bob?](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103241) (Death Therapy!) > > 😃 \*\* Damn, I thought you were talking about the Other Bob. I’d kill for a Church of the Subgenius Office Assistant. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/32 "2001-07-12T22:20:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > > \*\*But hey, at least it’s not Bob. \*\* > > What, exactly, was Bob? I vaguely remember something, but my memory is about as reliable as a politician, so would somebody fill me in about Bob? > > Or, as the movie title went, [What About Bob?](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103241) (Death Therapy!) > > 😃 \*\* If memory serves me right, back in 1994 or 1995, Microsoft wanted to make computers more “friendly.” So along came Microsoft Bob. It was basically a friendly computer interface. It turned your computer into a “house,” to which you could add and remove rooms and add decorations, as well as program icons. One feature of Bob was the small characters which helped out. Microsoft is still keen on this part of the technology, and added it to Office (some of the Office Assistants are actually refugees from Bob) and is trying to improve it Internet-style with Microsoft Agents. Clippy was hired for Office after Bob’s demise, in case anyone wonders. One of the most interesting things is that the main programmer of Bob was a woman named Melinda who is now Bill Gates’ wife. Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/33 "2001-07-12T22:35:52Z")
No, the main programmer for the Bob interface was not Melinda Gates - she was in Marketing, for a very brief time. Where do people get this stuff? I happen to know the main programmer for Bob, b/c he still works for Microsoft - he’s a PPT Dev in the Office group, as am I. FYI, Clippit was never hated more vehemently than by the Office Devs and Testers at MS. At company meetings, the different App groups tried to “one-up” each other by demoing various ways in which Clippit was destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/34 "2001-07-12T22:57:41Z")
Heh. That’s a cool story, **Dooku** The way I learned it, [Bob](http://www.gratefuldad.com/twinsoft/products/msbob/msbob.html) was notorious for getting all up in your s&!t at inopportune times, not unlike our pal [Clippy](http://www.attrition.org/gallery/ms/paperclip.gif), only (I’m told) worse. In the intervening time between when this thread was started and now, [rumors of Bob’s return](http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19349.html) in both Office and Windows XP have arisen a number of times, most recently only six weeks ago. I’m curious to know, has anyone seen Rover scratching about in the beta versions of XP, or did Little Bill finally pull the trigger on Old Yeller? I’m almost afraid to ask you directly there, **Dook**. Feel free to take the Fifth. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/35 "2001-07-12T23:24:12Z")
Actually, since '96 I’ve been exclusively on the Mac side, so I don’t really keep up with the Jonses over in Windows. But would it surprise me to see Rover in XP? Eh…not as much as it would surprise me if it were the Moof cow. 😉 If I had to guess at how it happened? The assistants have always been driven by the UA team, (UA = User Assistance - Help engines, Help DOC content, etc), which has its own schedule and arrives in the product cycle later, self-contained. (in that it just hooks up to the pointers we’ve already placed in the code). So, the fresh-faced new PM that came along was more likely a UA guy, not a Windows guy. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/36 "2001-07-13T03:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Dooku_ > FYI, Clippit was never hated more vehemently than by the Office Devs and Testers at MS. At company meetings, the different App groups tried to “one-up” each other by demoing various ways in which Clippit was destroyed. I heard once that Clippit was what happened when the Marketing Department drew up the specifications for a product. I took it with a grain of salt until I read your post, **Dooku**. 🙂 Maybe that explains it. Anyway. The best way I’ve found of disabling Clippit and his friends (because the place I worked at did not let us just delete application files of any sort willy-nilly) was to rename the Actors directory. I called mine “oldactors” so any subsequent user would be able to find it easily. But it worked, and Clippit never bothered me again. “It looks like you’re writing a letter…” Argh! ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/37 "2001-07-13T10:59:39Z")
I love the Dog, as he looks a little like my real Dog. She’s a blonde Cocker. FWIW, we have something like 4000 PC users at this installation. Most all got MS Windows 2000 as a part of the Y2K upgrade. The overwhelming preference is for the Dog (Rocky), with the cat coming in a somewhat distant second. Of the total number of users, to my knowledge there are only a couple of hundred who don’t like the helper at all and have it hidden. The “Einstein clone” is actually named “The Genius”. I don’t know if there was an issue with hs estate or what. Maybe the next release will feature Johnny Bravo as an option. Personally, I like the Dot the least, as it reminds me of Wal-Mart. This doesn’t include the MS Office “Puzzle” logo helper, which has as far as I can see no discernable personality whatsoever. I am probably not alone in this opinion, as this helper is the least frequently seen on our PCs here. ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/38 "2001-07-14T14:34:48Z")
Um, there’s a rather simple way to get rid of Clippit & Co. that I don’t think was mentioned. In his “What would you like to do?” speech bubble, there’s a button marked “options”. Click it. Then uncheck “Use Office Assistant.” Buh-bye! Yersinia ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/39 "2001-07-14T15:17:33Z")
> [@](#): > > _From the Microsoft [Clippy page](http://www.microsoft.com/office/clippy/) link provided by curwin:_ > > Clippy’s TO DO List > . . . . . > > · Help people fix the carburetors on their '74 Dodge Darts I’m amazed! A reference to _Car Talk_! Maybe I misjudged the little \*&@%. I wonder if anyone at MS besides the person who wrote it recognizes it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491/40 "2001-07-14T17:13:14Z")
Like **Zyada** , I enjoyed the Mother Earth one at first, though I had no use for the others. I liked watching her animation. But after a while it got old I disabled the Office Assistant thing entirely. I connected the idea of a Mother Earth personality with Microsoft’s location in the Pacific Northwest, also known as “Ecotopia.”\* [sub]\*_Ecotopia_ was a 1975 Utopian novel of the near future, by Ernest Callenbach, in which the Pacific Northwest region secedes from the rest of the country and implements environmentalism.[/sub] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clippit-the-paper-clip/3491.md?page=3)