2002 – 2006retired
EMac
“Built for classrooms, shaped like a friendly toaster, gone but never graded down”
“It looks like you're writing an epitaph. Would you like help with that?”
The Office Assistant was a virtual helper that popped up over Microsoft Office, Publisher, Project, and FrontPage, connecting users to help content through animated characters. There was a wide cast to choose from, but none so beloved — or notorious — as Clippit, the paperclip the world came to know as Clippy.
By 2006, Clippy and company were gone, having weathered more criticism and parody than perhaps any helper in software history. Yet that mockery became a strange kind of fame: few digital sidekicks are missed quite so loudly, or remembered quite so fondly.
Spotted something wrong? Every fact on this page traces to a dated source. Fixes make the graveyard better for everyone.
“Built for classrooms, shaped like a friendly toaster, gone but never graded down”
“The colorful laptop with a handle, gone but still opening like a lunchbox in our hearts”
“White plastic, big heart: the people's Mac went home smiling.”