Clippy (and his predecessors, he wasn't one of the first avatars for the feature) might not have been so bad, but marketing got hold of it and decided it didn't pop up often enough for them to really make a big thing of, so it was tuned up to an irritating level.

> It is unclear what the industry thinks has changed

The demographics of computer (and other device) use have changed massively since the late 90s, and the suggestion engines are much more powerful.

I still want it all to take a long walk off a short peer, but a lot of people seem happy with it bothering them.