In 2000, reported on a security hole in Microsoft Office Assistant (Clippy) that allowed an attacker to take control of a user’s system, and add or delete files. They found a hole in the legacy software behind Clippy, still shipped with new versions of Windows. In 2005-06, a group of 27 hackers were hired to break Windows Vista - supposedly Microsoft’s most secure operating system, according to Dan’s tale in our Who Killed Clippy? video. I just don’t know what they’re talking about.’ And I said, ‘Guys, guys, look, I’m a woman, and I’m going to tell you, these animated characters are male-looking.’ There’s me and, I think, like, 11 or 12 guys, and we’re going through the results, and they said, ‘I don’t see it. Most of the women thought the characters were too male and that they were leering at them. Roz Ho, a former Microsoft executive, was quoted on the negative results of that testing in the documentary, Code: Debugging the Gender Gap (which Duo screened earlier this year): “There should be some silliness and connection to people in computers,” he said.īut Clippy didn’t even pass user approval in early focus group tests. This is something Security Researcher Dan Kaminsky recognizes in Duo’s video, Who Killed Clippy? Even though Clippy contained some of the “most annoying and oldest code ever shipped with Windows” from a security perspective, he acknowledged that, if not human, at least Clippy was communicating with users in their own language. Clippy was born out of a desire to make computer programs more responsive and relatable to users, while guiding users through any usability issues. The Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) theory stated that users treat computers like people. “Agents describe a system designed to mimic human behavior on some level - an interpretation most associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the idea of ‘intelligent agents.’” - Why People Hate the Paperclip: Labels, Appearance, Behavior and Social Responses to User Interface Agents, Luke Swartz, Stanford University Someone actually wrote an entire thesis paper about Clippy, which I’ll quote here: UIs are supposed to help guide users through processes or provide information, similar to wizards. Intelligent User InterfacesĬlippy was considered an intelligent user interface (UI), also known as an interface agent. In response, Microsoft turned off the feature by default in Office XP, then killed it off completely in Office 2007-08. The googly-eyed anthropomorphic paperclip would pop up in Word, unprompted by the user, start fidgeting uncontrollably and then offer troubleshooting tips for users as they tried to go about their work.Ĭlippy was widely considered a failure in the tech community and beyond - users unanimously hated it, quickly elevating a shared disdain for the paperclip to meme-worthy levels. Some of us remember that creepy animated assistant that came pre-installed in Microsoft Office in the late 90s. Legacy Code Security: Clippy the Office Assistant and Lessons in UsabilityĪh, Clippy.
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