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Linkedin + MS Word = Clippy 3.0 ?

Did Mr. Nadella, who has been at Microsoft since 1992, learn nothing from the Clippy disaster? Clippy, the animated anthropomorphic paper clip introduced in 1996, popped up unbidden in Microsoft Office programs to offer advice. "Are you writing a letter?" it would ask annoyingly. Clippy became famous for the ire it provoked and, in 2010, Time magazine included Clippy in a roundup of the 50 worst inventions of all time, along with asbestos, leaded gasoline and pay toilets.

Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, an associate professor of English at the University of Maryland and author of "Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing," said the move reflected a failure to understand what writers need. "Most of the most innovative writing tools now on the market position themselves precisely as distraction-free platforms," he said.

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