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There’s a Clippy ugly holiday sweater — and it’s awesome

Clippy is back just in time for the holidays. No, you won’t find him dancing across your monitor. Instead, he has returned in the form of an ugly Christmas sweater.

Microsoft released the Clippy ugly Christmas sweater just as office Christmas parties are kicking off. The sweater is the most obnoxious shade of blue you’ve ever seen, with knitted snowflakes all over it and Clippy sitting atop a pile of papers. There’s a speech bubble which reads “Happy Holidays!” and an OK button.

an ugly blue, green, and white clippy sweater
Image credit: Microsoft Image used with permission by copyright holder

The two-toned sweater is available today through early December and is part of a fundraising effort for the company’s College Success Foundation. The CSF aims to help students from low socioeconomic backgrounds successfully earn a college degree. Proceeds from the Clippy ugly sweater go toward the foundation.

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But you don’t need to shell out big bucks to enjoy Clippy doing various Christmassy things. There are new Microsoft Teams backgrounds to help get your workplace into the holiday spirit.

One of them features the same images as on the sweater, with Clippy astride a stack of papers saying, “Looks like you’re on a Teams call.” Others include Clippy baking cookies and handing out gifts.

Everything is available at a Windows Ugly Sweater site, hosted on an Xbox gear domain. As you scroll down the page, you can swipe through various slides of Clippy doing random holiday stuff. For instance, Clippy will teach you how to make the perfect holiday card in one set of panels. In another, you can follow along as Clippy enjoys “as many holiday cookies as possible.”

You can order your Clippy ugly sweater or download Clippy backgrounds at www.windowsuglysweater.com, where you’ll also find Clippy’s cookie recipe, and, in true Microsoft fashion, a call to download the Edge browser.

Nathan Drescher
Nathan Drescher is a freelance journalist and writer from Ottawa, Canada. He's been writing about technology from around the…
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