What you need to know
- Microsoft released a collection of nostalgic backgrounds for Microsoft Teams.
- There are backgrounds featuring Clippy, Solitaire, and the Windows XP default wallpaper.
- All of the backgrounds are available for free.
Microsoft released a collection of nostalgic Microsoft Teams backgrounds for "#ThrowbackThursday." You can grab background images featuring Clippy, Solitaire, Microsoft Paint, and the default Windows XP wallpaper from the company for free.
A blog post from Microsoft breaks down the specific background images. It has some playful jabs at "the true OG virtual assistant," Clippy, and shares some background on each image.
"You may think Clippy was too persistent, too eager, perhaps even too polite. We like to think that Clippy, the true OG virtual assistant, was just a bit ahead of its time," says Microsoft.
The company also shot down any hopes of the eager assistant returning to Microsoft 365, "No, Clippy is not a part of Microsoft 365, but regardless, we can only hope that this high-definition portrait of it as your next Teams background will bring some levity to your next meeting."
We've included some of the backgrounds below, but you need to go through Microsoft to get high-res versions of them.
Bliss, the default Windows XP wallpaper, has been edited slightly. Microsoft explains that it shifted the shadows, softened the clouds, and added some dandelions in the field. There's a chance that these changes were made to make the image more functional as a background for video calls.
If you want to use any of the photos in your Teams calls and meetings, make sure to check out our guide on how to use custom backgrounds in Microsoft Teams.
