Re: Clippy's Demise

["John Fleming" <johnf -at- ecn -dot- ab -dot- ca>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Byfield" <bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com>
To: "John Fleming" <johnf -at- ecn -dot- ab -dot- ca>
Cc: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: April 14, 2001 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: Clippy's Demise


> John Fleming wrote:
> >
> > OK, I was able to locate the article--"Role Conflicts in Office
97"
> > (Technical Communication, May 2000, p. 238).
> >
> > "In November 1998, an independent opinion poll taken by the
University
> > of Washington confirmed media reports that Office 97 users dislike
the
> > Paper-clip.  Responding to a poll posted on a private listserve
for
> > business professionals, 54 of 56 users said they strongly disliked
the
> > Paper-clip."
>
> Besides the warm, cozy glow I get from being right (a rare feeling),
> what interests me is the date mentioned. For two and a half years,
> there's been evidence that people disliked the paper clip, yet
> Microsoft is just getting around to getting rid of it. I don't want
> to start a round of Microsoft-bashing, so I'll just say that this
> response time is not in the best tradition of usability-testing.

Well, that doesn't mean we can't bash the feature.

It seems to me that Clippy assumed a very low level of skill on the
part of the user.  And it wasn't limited to assuming low level of
skill with the software either.

To a new user, someone who's never seen Word before, Clippy would have
been very helpful.

To a person who only has to write the occasional letter, Clippy's
desire to show the user how to do it might have been very acceptable.

Unfortunately, Word has been kicking around long enough (I first used
it in 1992), that a fair percentage of users have used it for a long
time.  Also, a lot of users use it for things like letters.  For these
users, it would be nice if Clippy had a convenient on / off switch.

Had such a switch been installed, I probably would not have developed
the revulsion for the feature that I did

Perhaps one day I will be able to put my emotional reaction in
perspective and see Clippy for what it is--nice idea, crappy
implementation.

--

John Fleming
Technical Writer
Edmonton, Alberta
email:     johnf -at- ecn -dot- ab -dot- ca



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