But I like Clippy!
A very amusing Web page themed like a Kill Bill Vol. 1 lobby poster lists many amusing and valid reasons to dump Microsoft's browser and switch to Firefox (ahem ... note that I have a 'get' button on this page). The "Kill Bill's Browser - Switch to Firefox" page lists reason 8 as "Mozilla has never made a talking paperclip."
But I like Clippy! I prefer Rocky (the dog) or even Links (a cat), but the Office Assistant was a brilliant idea to suck people into learning an application. Whether teaching classes at the Gateway computer store, adult-ed classes at the local high school, or dozens of middle school kids, I found I had fewer problems throughout the courses when the students realized they had a friendly way to look up answers on their own. They felt empowered and began to rule the machine rather than let it rule them.
And the little critters are just plain fun to watch. Rocky goes to sleep when he is bored or looks interested when you type something unexpected. There are some clever people at Microsoft and this is one thing that I believe they got right. All the indignation from geeks who know their way around bit and bytes shouldn't have the influence it does on the software giant when ordinary people are the majority of users. I'll keep Rocky and his gang around as long as I can.
