Sorry Clippy fans - Microsoft's Windows ugly sweater has already sold out
For Microsoft's third year of selling Windows ugly sweaters, the company has brought out Clippy, its old paperclip digital assistant in Office apps.
The "Windows Ugly Sweater: Clippy Edition" is available on the Xbox Gear shop for $74.99, but nostalgic fans of Clippy and Windows will be disappointed as the ugly sweater has already sold out.
Last year's ugly sweater showcased the Windows game Minesweeper and the year before that it was MS Paint. This year Microsoft made a tongue-in-cheek video featuring a "human-sized Clippy" giving the thumbs up to the Clippy ugly jumper.
Yes, it's really real. The Clippy #WindowsUglySweater is here.
— Windows (@Windows) November 15, 2022
Get yours now and help support @College_Success as they assist underserved, low-income students achieve their dream of a college education. https://t.co/cC4kRfCDOM pic.twitter.com/MuSH37cSfH
"Be the best dressed at your holiday sweater party with the best-looking paper clip on your sweater," Microsoft says.
Clippy has been getting more attention from Microsoft lately. Last year, as part of redesign of 2D emojis as 3D ones, it gave Clippy a refresh and revived it as the replacement emoji for the standard flat paperclip in Office apps. It promised to replace the paperclip with Clippy if it got 20,000 likes on Instagram. It ended up with over 230,000 likes.
Also: Clippy is coming back to Windows and Microsoft Teams
The human-sized Clippy in the video posted on Twitter seems curiously sad-looking compared to the bubbly-looking Clippy on the ugly sweater.
As with previous years, some of the sales of this year's Windows ugly sweater go to a good cause.
"Who knew a paperclip could be so cozy? Cozy up at your next holiday sweater party with this one-of-a-kind Clippy sweater and support the College Success Foundation as they assist underserved, low-income students to access and succeed in college."
Microsoft says it will will contribute $100,000 to the College Success Foundation.
Megan Muehleman, senior social media manager at Microsoft, told the Verge the Windows ugly sweater tradition started in 2017 after posting three made-up ugly sweaters and asked which ugly sweaters its followers would wear. This is the third year Microsoft has sold the ugly sweaters to the public.
"It started back in 2017, we had posted three made-up sweaters and said 'which ugly sweater would you wear this year?' and it was our best-performing post for the entire year," said Muehleman. "People went nuts, and they were like 'please make these! please make these!'"