One of the most common criticisms of Word is how the application has become bloated with features over the years, as it tries to be all things to all people. This trend couldn't be more vividly illustrated anywhere than in a zealous, all-out activation of every toolbar in Word 2000.

The icons on these toolbars do things that most of us don't need and don't understand, and yet those options (and the features they represent) persist, allowing Microsoft to continue its full-spectrum domination of the word-processor marketplace. Were you ever crazy enough to have all these toolbars up at once?

Farewell, Clippy

In (released with Office XP in 2001), Microsoft seized the anti-Clippy mania by the horns and turned it into a marketing tool. Their marketing message: The ease of use in Word 2002 rendered Clippy obsolete.

Microsoft created Clippy's personal Web site featuring humorous videos of Clippy--voiced by comedian Gilbert Gottfried--that extolled the virtues of Office XP (and promised to "put Clippy's skinny metal butt in the digital dustbin"). In Clippy's stead, Microsoft introduced task panes--menus that stretched down the right side of the screen--to help users in a much less intrusive and annoying fashion.