In crushing news for the design industry, Clip Art is no more – Microsoft is replacing it with Bing’s newer Image Search.
In a since-removed blog by Microsoft, plans were announced to make the shift across amid a slump in interest for the awesome service.
“The Office.com Clip Art and image library has closed shop,” said Microsoft’s Doug Thomas on the blog post, as reported on numerous sites including The Register. “Usage of Office’s image library has been declining year-to-year as customers rely more on search engines.”
The real value added extra on Word and PowerPoint, Clip Art’s incredible ability to turn fairly rubbish illustrations such as that of incredibly angry looking people staring at computer screens into whimsical, light hearted images of incredibly angry looking people staring at computer screens was a skill not lost on many of us.
To be fair, search engines have pretty much replaced the need for services such as Clip Art, but for any other 90s kids out there, these often simple images will be tough to let go.
Animations on Clip Art were awesome
For example, how can a graphic designer, all by themself, work out a way to portray a man, having just finished a spot of tennis, out walking his dog? Clip Art, that’s how.
Or a Ricky Gervais-shaped man furious with his malfunctioning toaster, that lacks a plug and burns his toast? Clip Art, that’s how.
To mark this sorry day, Silicon Republic will share our attempts at Clip Art, and its ultimate use, pictorialising phrases on text documents for presentation purposes.
Rest in peace, Clip Art.
