Microsoft to close online Clip Art and replace it with Bing Image search

NEVER want to see a cheesy stickman figure or outdated technology icon again? Good news — Microsoft is killing Clip Art.

Old and new ... Microsoft says Bing will give greater options than Clip Art.

THE humble and indisputably cheesy Clip Art is about to get punched out, with Microsoft announcing it is shutting down the online library and turning to the web.

In a Microsoft Office blog posted today, the software giant announced a change to the way it will help people find images to populate countless Powerpoint images and tacky Word documents.

From today, if you click on online images in Office desktop products, instead of being shown the contents of the Office.com Clip Art library, people will be directed to a Bing Images curated search.

“The Office.com Clip Art and image library has closed shop,” explains Microsoft’s Doug Thomas says in the blog. “Usage of Office’s image library has been declining year-to-year as customers rely more on search engines.”

Microsoft says the change means people will be able to get images that are higher in resolution and more relevant.

Old and new ... Microsoft says Bing will give greater options than Clip Art.

So, a Bing Image search for mobile phones will have actual modern looking mobile phones, which is more realistic than the current Clip Art offerings that includes images such as an apparently drunk smiley face speaking on a mobile phone from the 1980s.

The Microsoft blog does not say whether the change in images will make sitting through countless Powerpoint presentations in countless meetings any more bearable.

How am I meant to finish my dissertation now “@verge: Microsoft is killing off Clip Art http://t.co/0cPnpqOKIz pic.twitter.com/TodTIiXJTf”

— Claudio Albertin (@ClaudioAlbertin) December 1, 2014

Microsoft kills off Clip Art. Disdain for powerpoint presentations remains. http://t.co/fjvHAImwi5

— Matt Smith (@mattsmith428) December 1, 2014

Me reacting to this Microsoft killing Clip Art news http://t.co/IdmjB8lAfV pic.twitter.com/4VDBW5Cebc

— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) December 1, 2014