Microsoft's new emoji is a surprising blast from the past

If you're of a certain age, you probably remember Microsoft Clippy. The plucky paperclip loved to pop up and offer you help that you definitely didn't need (seriously, how hard can Microsoft Word be?), only to be discontinued in 2007. But it seems everyone's (least) favourite paperclip is back.

Microsoft announced last week that if its tweet (below) got 20k Likes, it would resurrect Clippy in emoji form, replacing the standard paperclip icon. And what do you think happened, dear reader? The internet rose to the challenge, and the tweet currently has over 165k Likes. Clippy's coming home. (Check our our guide to character design if you're inspired to create your own.)

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Daniel John
Senior News Editor

Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.