Microsoft wants to nudge us to be more productive. Do we want its help?

Microsoft Word users from a previous generation are still recovering from the trauma of Clippy, the anthropomorphic paperclip that thrust itself into your writing projects with a cheery, yet unrelenting, insistence. "It looks like you're writing a letter," Clippy would ask, again and again. Clippy, introduced in 1996 and eradicated in 2001, was an early attempt by Microsoft to help guide its users, but it backfired because the software couldn't learn whether you needed help or not. All users were new users to Clippy, even if they were well-familiar with how to use Word. Users didn't only object to the clumsy-cutesy design of the feature, but also the attitude behind it.