Clippy refuses to die, is resurrected as a Microsoft emoji

Clippy...? That’s a name we haven’t heard in a long time.

After the much-mocked Office “assistant” was finally killed off by Microsoft back in 2008, Clippy came to embody a certain kind of nostalgia for the days of the internet past... which is amusing to us, since clearly anyone who thinks that was either too young to remember the Microsoft tool was a non-helpful pain in the ass, the internet was slow as continental drift back then, and Windows 98, well, wasn’t great.

In any case, Microsoft was certainly made aware of Clippy’s cult status, tweeting earlier this week that if the company’s post amassed 20,000 likes, it would resurrect Clippy in the form of an updated emoji to replace its perfectly fine paperclip image.

We’ll let you guess what happened next...

Part of a much larger, much more benign emoji update — Aside from Clippy’s unholy return, Microsoft’s newest line of emoji updates actually looks pretty nice. With the latest update, over 1,800 images will be converted from 2D to 3D (well, that might be a stretch, but they’re very nicely textured), with the majority of them getting animations, as well.

The rollout is scheduled to take place “over the coming months,” according to a Medium post from Microsoft that also lays out the company’s supposedly evolving philosophy of “playfulness,” changing work conditions, and... look, Microsoft, you can just release a bunch of new emojis. You don’t have to justify it to us.

Preparation for Windows 11 continues — The new emoji overhaul’s timing isn’t too surprising, given Microsoft’s increasing hype leading up to the official release of Windows 11 later this year (something we definitely have thoughts on, of course). A beta of the new OS is currently available to try out for Microsoft Insider members, but there are some serious caveats to keep in mind before downloading it.

For those a bit leery of taking the Windows 11 plunge just yet, Microsoft’s recently announced Windows 365 Cloud PC will provide a great alternative when it launches on August 2. The new program does pretty much exactly what the name implies — create a virtual PC that can be accessed via almost any device (including tablets like the iPad), which will be a real game-changer for many out there with allegiances to other OS options.

Just think: in a few months’ time, your MacBook Pro will be able to send out a Clippy emoji. What a time to be alive, huh?