Clippy vs. C.A.R.L.

Making software easier to use and more reliable, even if it means adding fewer new features, was one of the key themes offered by a group of international university students during a presentation to Microsoft executives last week. As this morning's Microsoft Notebook explains, Microsoft Group Vice President Jeff Raikes and some of the students didn't see eye-to-eye on the issue, with Raikes acknowledging the importance of ease-of-use, but also pointing out that it's necessary for the company to keep innovating.

Following up on that angle, the daily poll on the P-I's home page Monday asks: "Which would you rather have: Software with innovative new features, or software that works reliably?" As of early this afternoon, the vast majority of people who responded said they preferred reliability over fancy new stuff.

In making their own case last week, the students singled out "Clippy," the much-maligned animated paperclip that pops up by default to assist users in earlier versions of Microsoft Word. The students made their feelings for Clippy clear, showing him on their slides with a line through him.

But later in the presentation, they acted out a concept they called "C.A.R.L." -- a Creative Artificial Responsive Lifeform -- that would monitor what a computer user does, pick up on patterns, interact in a human way via voice recognition, make helpful suggestions and perform helpful functions liking picking music to match your mood. In their example, C.A.R.L. said such things as, "You've got a call coming in from your boss. I think it's about that report that you didn't submit last week, the one I reminded you about. Would you like me to take a message instead?"

Raikes later noted an apparent inconsistency in their criticism of Clippy and their proposal for C.A.R.L. "Clippy was a software-based assistant that was trying in many ways to help people the way in which you were suggesting that we try and help people," he said.

One of the students, Simon Moss of Australia, said the difference would be C.A.R.L.'s ability to adapt to a user's individual situation and needs. Clippy, in contrast, seemed to have the same advice for everyone, invariably saying, "It looks like you're writing a letter," and offering to help.

Said Raikes: "If a software-based assistant has to be at the level of human intellect before people value it, it's an incredibly difficult goal to deliver on. ... It was interesting for me to hear the common theme of dissing Clippy, yet really, Clippy in my opinion was right in line with what you aspire to. You might say it was at the kindergarten level or the preschool level but it does point out one of the challenges that we have."

Another student, Øyvind Kildal Stangnes of Norway, pointed out that Microsoft is already working on some of the basic technologies behind the C.A.R.L. concept, such as voice recognition and connections between disparate devices. (See this January post about Microsoft's connected concept car, for example.) He asserted that it wouldn't be that hard to just make that technology interact and react to situations in a human way.

"Oh, it's hard," Raikes corrected him. "Don't think it's easy."

Posted by Todd Bishop at June 28, 2004 01:17 PM