[joe_the_user]

The thing about Clippy was that he was inserted in what was supposed to be a working word processor.

If he'd appear in something less formal, like a video game or a quirky website where I just came to goof off and play with animated doodads, I might have had a different impression of him.

And further, he appeared when a tool that was suppose to accomplish a specific task failed and he then proceeded to fail to be useful. Mostly, he appeared where the index to help menu was suppose to be. I generally knew the topic I wanted help on and Clippy wasn't it. Under those circumstances, you really couldn't help but want to rip his guts out and shove them down his throat.

But hey, that was then. Maybe all is forgiven...