Microsoft's forgotten son, Clippy, returns as a wallpaper for your phone

By Robert Carnevale
published

The Clippy redemption arc has officially started.

Clippy Gang
Clippy Gang (Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

  • Clippy, otherwise known as the "Microsoft paperclip," made his debut in Office 97.
  • Clippy lost his job at Microsoft in 2001.
  • The legendary paperclip has made his return via some wallpapers on Microsoft's Twitter.

Do you miss Clippy? Of course you do. So does Microsoft, hence why they've brought him back for some freelance modeling work as the star of their latest series of wallpapers.

That's right: You can have Clippy, in all his little metal glory, surfing on paper airplanes as your new phone background. Check out the wallpapers over on Microsoft's Twitter.

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Surely this is the start of something major and indicates a coming snowball effect wherein Clippy will become the official mascot of Microsoft, positioned to rival the likes of Sega's Sonic and Disney's Mickey. This is most definitely not just a one-off throwback meme reference.

Speaking of throwbacks, Microsoft did another one a week ago, offering folks a retro-themed MS phone wallpaper modeled after the banner it created to celebrate the company turning 46 years old in April.

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If you want to see more of Clippy beyond a few phone wallpapers on Twitter, good luck. There's no telling what, if anything, can convince Microsoft that the googly-eyed little paperclip is worthy of a primetime spotlight in 2021 and beyond. So simply cherish the moment and grab the wallpapers.

Robert Carnevale
Robert Carnevale

Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He's a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author of Cold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.

5 Comments
  • Don't miss Clippy at all. Back in about 2000 we had a temp receptionist at work who used Clippy for sending emails as she said she didn't know how to do it without it. Did the same with Word documents.
  • Didn't Steve Ballmer throw Clippy into the caldera of Mount Doom sometime in the early 2000's? I'm a little shocked to see him live and well.
  • Hey Cliptana, I appear to be writing a letter.
  • Lol, nice one.
  • Retro wallpapers are in at MS.
    They just introduced a new dynamic background for the new XBOXes based on the boot sequence of the Original XBOX. (Whichmakes some sense as the 20th anniversary of XBOX is coming in Nov.)