Microsoft's Clippy is Back in Office's 'Ribbon Hero'

You thought he was dead, didn't you?! Well he's not! (We're talking about Clippy here, by the way.)

Clippy was that pest with good intentions that Microsoft introduced in Office 97. While it was an interesting effort to make the office suite more accessible and usable to newcomers, it was an annoyance for those who are really trying to get work done free from distractions.

So, Clippy and the rest of the helper mascots are dead in the latest versions of Office – or are they? In a training tool game made by Microsoft, Clippy is back!

It's called Ribbon Hero 2: Clippy's Second Chance and you can download it here.

Yes, we turned Office into a game! If you're going to spend time immersed in the inner workings of Office, by golly it should be fun. In Ribbon Hero 2, you’ll hop on board Clippy's stolen time machine and explore different time periods. With each time period, you get to explore a new game board with challenges you must complete to get to the next level. Each challenge takes you into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote to complete a task. Discover new Office features by actually using them, with a hint button to fall back on in case you get stuck. Race for a high score with colleagues, classmates and friends, or even put your score on your resume to show off your Office skills!

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • lunchbox4k
    Ridiculous.
    Reply
  • pclee
    Wow! I hadn't even realized those pests were gone. I guess I was too busy being productive at work. I use OpenOffice.org at home and will move to LibreOffice soon.
    Reply
  • is this an april fools joke?
    Reply
  • td854
    Oh god, when I think of clippy I can only remember "Windows: Really Good Edition" ... "Why do I have blood?"
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    I don't use M$ Office anymore. When I did I liked the paper cat the best.
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Oh great. New MS Products:
    Microsoft WordVille
    Microsoft ExcelVille
    Microsoft AccessVille
    Microsoft PowerpointVille
    ...and so on...

    Facebook games, anyone?
    Reply
  • dco
    They had a racing game in-bedded one of the versions of Excel, 2000 i think. So much time spend racing instead of making spreadsheets.
    Good times.
    Reply
  • soundefx
    My head hurt just thinking about it.
    Reply
  • randomizer
    This company is a joke.
    Reply
  • virtualban
    joebuttsucksis this an april fools joke?May be a fools joke.
    Reply